Method of accessing configured nodes in a facilities management system with a non-configured device

ABSTRACT

A networked system having a wide variety of applications and particularly applicable to facilities management systems has multiple levels of software in processing nodes. The levels include a &#34;features&#34; processing level which communicates requests for data to a software object level containing databases of processes and attributes and database managers. The database managers in the software object level operate to provide data to the high level features in the same format. The software object level communicates with a hardware object level which also contains databases and database managers to mask differences between operational hardware units. By categorizing operational units by type, additional units of a known type can be added with only low level hardware object database changes. Adding units of a new type is facilitated by software changes confined to the lower level hardware and software objects, avoiding software changes at high level features. Individual software objects are tailored for typical types of inputs and output devices encountered by facilities management systems. Universal drive circuitry also provides applicability to a broad range of devices. A non-configured node is connected to a configured network at a location defined by a subnet and a local address. The location information and a drop identifier are used as a network address for the non-configured node to transmit and receive messages. Routing information stored in the configured nodes allows non-configured node to communicate with other network nodes.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This is a Divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 07/476,031 filed on Jan. 30, 1990entitled NETWORKED FACILITIES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to automated processing systems which can operateindependently or be interconnected to form a network. In particular theinvention can be used in a Facilities Management Systems (FMS), althoughit is not limited to such systems.

2. Related Art

State of the art automated systems operating under processor controlpass data to and from processors, operational units such as sensors andother physical parameter monitoring units, and other data acquisitionand control instruments implemented in hardware. Facilities ManagementSystems (FMS) performing automated industrial and environmental controlare among such contemporary systems. Since there is no uniformity amongvarious types of data acquisition and control instruments, automatedsystems must be compatible with a multitude of non-standard operationalunits. To achieve compatibility, such systems have often relied onsoftware tailored to specific interface requirements. This requiresnumerous compromises in software design. In addition, when newoperational units are added, or existing operational units are changed,it often becomes necessary to rewrite one or more entire softwarepackages. This is because requirements of new operational units areoften incompatible with software written for earlier units. Since theinterfaces among various portions of the software and betweenoperational units and the processor are an integral part of thesoftware, the entire software package must be rewritten.

One approach to reducing the extent of software affected by changes inoperational units is the use of logical point information nodes. This isa modular approach which seeks to isolate high level software featuresfrom operational unit specific characteristics. However, this approachremains relatively dependent on the physical or logical location ofoperational units and on their individual characteristics. While somelevel of isolation of high level software features could be achieved bysuch a modular approach, it is still necessary to write operational unitspecific software to accommodate inputs and outputs. Thus, using knowntechnology, it has not been possible to provide software which would berelatively unaffected by the differences in operational unit hardware.As a result, it has also not been possible to produce software whichneed not be extensively modified when new operational units are added orexisting data acquisition units are substantially changed.

A further limitation of the related art, especially in systems employingdata acquisition and other remotely controlled hardware, is the limiteddata constructs available. Data acquisition and other remotelycontrolled hardware typically provide and require specifically formatteddata and often do not allow convenient access to desired portions of thedata. As a result, in current systems it is sometimes necessary toduplicate data to be used for different purposes or again access datapreviously obtained. Similarly, it is sometimes difficult in suchsystems to access intermediate data developed by a processing apparatusrather than data gathered directly by a data acquisition device.

Automated systems, including those used for facilities management, canoperate using centralized or distributed processing techniques. As aresult, data at a host node can be accessed for processing at anothernode (a referencing node) connected to the host node over a network. Indistributed real time processing systems, processor nodes operatingrelatively independently communicate over one or more data buses toexchange information. In order for a referencing node to access a dataelement within the data base of a host node, a convention must beestablished whereby the referencing node can identify the host nodewhose data base contains the required data element and the specificlocation of the data element within the host node.

Such a convention should avoid relying on a central node to translate adata access request to the appropriate host node address or addresswithin the host node. This is because a failure of the central nodeperforming this function would prevent operation of the entire system.

It would also be unacceptable to search an entire real time network oreven the data base of one node for a particular data element. This isbecause the time consumed by such a search would be excessive. Thus, adirect access mechanism to obtain the required data from within the hostnode is needed. Moreover, the data base at each node of the distributedsystem should be independent of data bases at other nodes of the system.It should not be necessary to synchronize the nodes by downloading newdata into referencing nodes each time a host data base is changed. Datathat was available previously from a host node should, if still present,be available to referencing nodes regardless of how the host node database addresses are changed. Moreover, the data should still be availableto the referencing node, even when the data element moves from one nodeto another.

Conventional techniques for referencing data between nodes on suchdistributed real time systems cannot meet all of the above requirementssimultaneously. One known approach is the use of hard memory addresses.A referencing node maintains in its data base a fixed memory address ofthe data within the host data base. The address is normally bound to anamed element of data when the referencing data base is generated,usually in an off-line generation device. The results are thendownloaded to the on-line nodes to allow direct access to the datawithin the host node. While this technique provides quick access to dataand does not require a central node to translate addresses, there is noadaptability to changes in the host node data base.

Host node data base changes that result in address changes within thenode cause fixed memory addresses associated with the data elements inthe referencing nodes to become obsolete. The same problem arises when adata element moves from one node to another. As a result, all thereferencing nodes must be re-synchronized to the new addresses of thedata elements. Especially in large systems, this is a time consumingtask which causes the referencing nodes to be taken off line until theupdate is complete. In a facilities management system (FMS), thereferencing nodes perform industrial and environmental control functionswhich often can no longer be maintained when the node is off line.

A second technique uses a "soft" address or record number to locate adata element within the host node. Using this technique, the relativeposition within a logical data base structure or a unique identifyingnumber is assigned to a data element. As with the hard memory addresstechnique, high speed and reliable access to the data is achieved.However, if the host node data base changes so that the relativeposition of the element in the data base is now different, the referencenodes are again obsolete and new information must be downloaded to thereferencing devices. An additional problem occurs when attempting toassign a unique identifying number to a data item. Without furtherprocessing, it is impossible to guarantee that the same identifyingnumber is not used by more than one host in the distributed system. Thiswould create an intolerable conflict on the network. Finally, afterreferencing nodes are updated, it would not be possible to download anold data base to the host node since this would now invalidate theinformation in the referencing nodes.

A third conventional approach involves assigning a name to each dataelement in the system. The names are stored in a central node which isused to locate the data. While this allows increased flexibility becausedata elements can move at will, this central node containing the mappingof names to physical locations becomes a reliability problem. This isbecause a failure in the central node would eliminate all communicationon the network.

The fourth conventional approach also assigns a name to each dataelement but avoids the central lookup node by searching the network eachtime the reference is made. However, in most systems, searching anentire network for a data element each time it is requested would resultin an intolerable data communication and processing burden.

Networked systems with a plurality of nodes further requiresynchronizing time and global data for consistent operation. This isespecially true in a facilities management system in which scheduledactivities, such as temperature control of areas of a building, mayoperate routinely based on time of day and other variables. Thus, one ofthe nodes on the system must accurately track time and coordinate thetime information among the other nodes. However, current systemsemploying master nodes risk losing time coordination should the masternode fail.

As additional nodes are brought onto a networked system, it also becomesnecessary to synchronize the data base of each new node with the mostcurrent data base of global variables. Traditional systems which employa master node to perform these functions also risk reliability problemsin this area should the master node fail.

Similarly, operational units communicating with individual nodes orintermediate processors between the nodes and the operational units canbe connected to the nodes using data bus networks or similar structures.For consistency, it is necessary that operational and processing unitsconnected to the individual nodes receive the most current values ofsystem variables. Networked systems under master node control introducesimilar reliability risks at this level.

In automatic processing systems, high level software features androutines may be triggered by events occurring in other processors at thesame level or in lower level processors controlled by one of the nodeson the system. However, data base changes occurring from down-loadingnew information into one of the nodes could result in errors in suchevent triggering. Current systems which do not track these eventtriggering synchronization problems are unable to guarantee thatimportant software functions will be performed after downloading newinformation into one of the nodes.

Similarly, reports of results produced by processes performed in thesystem, or of commands issued by the system, must be routed toappropriate display or storage devices. Current systems which do notaccommodate changing the locations of such devices are severelyrestricted in dynamic environments. Similarly, current systems which donot synchronize changes in the location data of such devices downloadedinto the nodes cannot guarantee that reports or messages will arrive atthe correct device. Indeed, in some systems, messages which cannot berouted are discarded. This is a potentially serious limitation toapplying such designs to facilities management systems.

Often, especially in facilities management systems, displays and reportsinclude standardized summarizes of system data. In a typical approach togenerating standard summaries, a processor retrieves individual records,either in response to a command or as part of routine polling of devicesfor data awaiting transmission. The processor must then test theretrieved data to determine if incorporation into the data summary beingassembled is appropriate. Such dedicated summary report generation testsoccupy the processors and intensify data communications, resulting inreducing achievable processing speeds.

In some cases, it is desirable to obtain reports by routing messages todevices which were not part of the network when configured. For example,ease of maintenance may be enhanced by allowing connection of a personalcomputer (PC) to an unoccupied port on a network node. It may also bedesirable to provide other non-configured devices, such as printers,access to the nodes on the network. Traditional systems restrict the useof such non-configured devices, since there is no way to communicatewith a device whose presence has not previously been made known to thenetwork, for example, by assignment and storage of an address.

As previously noted, networked systems have at least 2 nodes withcomponents for performing processing functions appropriate to the systemand communicating with each other over communication links. In afacilities management system (FMS) such nodes can contain processors,A/D and D/A converters and other equipment interface circuits to obtainsensor data required for processes implemented in the node and to issueequipment commands. The communication links include variouscommunication media facilitating communication among nodes on the samebus, subnet or network or between nodes on different networks overgateways. Nodes are configured on a system when they are defined in oneor more storage devices as members of a network. Node configuration mayoccur by storing data defining a path to the node. Thus, the system hasknowledge of the node's existence. Depending on the system, storage ofconfiguration information may be centralized or distributed. Suchconfiguration information may include data indicating the type of node,its location on the system, and other information defining a path to thenode.

A number of techniques for communicating among nodes interconnected on anetworked system currently exist. In broadcast communications methods,all nodes on a network receive a broadcast message or pass the messagesequentially from one node to the next. Inefficient communicationsresult from each node's handling of the broadcast message. Thus, otherrouting strategies have been developed to improve network efficiency.

Routing strategies may be adaptive or non-adaptive and systems maycontain elements of both strategies. Non-adaptive routing strategiesroute messages independently of measurements or estimates of currenttraffic or topology. These may include flooding or broadcast, selectiveflooding, and static routing. One such non-adaptive routing strategyinvolves building a graph of communication paths from every node toevery other node within the network and between networks interconnectedby a gateway. Graph analysis techniques for determining the shortestpath between pairs of nodes are employed and this information is thenprogrammed into a static routing table. In one such routing table, eachnode stores partial path data identifying the next intermediatedestination for a message ultimately targeted for a final destinationnode. Since each node has a static routing table which is defined at thetime of node configuration, it is inconvenient to alter the routingtable to facilitate communications by temporary or extraneous nodeswhich are not normally part of the network. This is because only nodeslisted in the routing table are available for use in the datacommunications path.

Dynamic or adaptive routing strategies route messages overcommunications links in response to message traffic and topology.Adaptive strategies include centralized, isolated or decentralized, anddynamic routing. Centralized routing strategies have a central nodemonitoring the number and length of messages transmitted overcommunications links and dynamically issuing routing strategies based onmessage traffic patterns. This is usually accomplished by updating andchanging routing tables in response to the changing traffic patterns.Decentralized strategies distribute partial routing tables among thenodes. For example, when a message is routed to an intermediate nodealong a path to its final destination, the intermediate node examinesthe traffic pattern among alternative remaining paths to the destinationnode and dynamically selects one of the several alternatives accordingto certain measures of efficiency. Thus, adaptive strategies provide forreconfiguring routing tables in response to changed conditions,including the addition of new devices. However, in many cases it is notpossible to incorporate non-configured devices. Even where this ispossible, the temporary incorporation of a previously non-configureddevice often does not justify the added processing required fordynamically adjusting routing tables. Such processing increases messagetransmission time and reduces overall system efficiency.

Regardless of the routing strategy employed by various parts of thesystem, in certain applications, such as maintenance, diagnostics, andadministrative functions, it is desirable to allow data communicationsbetween a node on one of the communications links in the system and atemporary node or processing device. This is particularly true inautomated networked control systems. Such systems often have need foremergency maintenance and diagnostic activities and for temporary loadanalysis. Present techniques are cumbersome because these requiretemporarily disabling at least portions of the network while a new nodeis configured onto the network. Configuring new nodes on a network isdifficult since new data communication path strategies must be workedout. Moreover, developing temporary data path strategies could result ininefficient communication strategies between the temporary ornon-configured device and the nodes configured on the network.

In networked automated processing or computer systems multipleprocessors requiring access to the same data may exist. Often this datais acquired by one of the processors which communicates with aparticular sensor. Other processors requiring the same data communicatewith the processor containing the data, either directly or through anintermediary, over a data bus. Using currently existing methods, aprocessor requiring sensor data not available through its own sensors,communicates over the data bus to signal the processor interfacing withthe sensor that data is required. In response, the processor connectedto the sensor polls the sensor and retrieves the data. It then transmitsthis data to the requesting processor for use in the remote processingroutine. In another known arrangement, the remote processors signal amaster node that data is required from a sensor controlled by adifferent processor. The master node then signals the sensor controllingprocessor which then retrieves the data and transmits it to the masternode. The master node then provides the data to the requesting remoteprocessor. Thus, each time a processor requires data from a sensor, thesensor controlling processor must access the sensor and transmit theinformation either to the requesting processor or the master node. Ifnumerous processors request frequent access to sensor information, thedata bus connecting the remote processors to each other and/or to amaster node quickly becomes bogged down with message traffic.

In another known method, slave sensors connected on a bus to a mastersensor are set up with a filtering increment. When a filtering incrementis used, the slave processor controlling the sensor defines a certain"delta" value that the sensor must change before the slave will reportthe new value to the master. The master keeps a copy of the data as theslave transmits it. When a filtering increment is employed, the slaveprocessor determines how often data is sent to the master. Thus, even ifthe master processor has no requirement for updated sensor information,the slave processor signals the master that the information is to betransmitted. If the sensor parameter is one which changes frequently,the slave processor may inordinately occupy the data bus withunnecessary updates of information to the master processor.

In another known method, the master regularly polls each processor forsensor updates. This also results in excessive message traffic on theinterconnecting bus, since data is transmitted automatically, even whenupdates are not needed. In addition, polling systems risk missingimportant transient data transitions which might occur in a sensor whilethe master is polling another sensor.

In each of the above cases, unnecessary message traffic on the data bustends to create bottlenecks and reduces the ability of the data bus torespond quickly to higher priority message traffic.

Presently known systems usually operate according to a fixed set ofinstructions forming one or more programs. Temporary or permanentvariations to a program are accomplished using a software patch. Asoftware patch directs the program to jump to another memory location,execute the steps beginning at that location and return either to thelocation following the calling location or to a different memorylocation, thereby skipping a portion of the program. Known systems usingsoftware patch techniques do not provide an easy mechanism forimplementing the transfer of control. For example, one must leaveintermediate memory available for possible insertion of the jump priorto the instructions to be by-passed. More importantly, if the jump issomehow missed, the incorrect code with its unfortunate consequenceswill be executed. Thus, in currently available systems, it is desirableto improve the certainty of executing a revised set of instructions.

Another factor often not considered in modern automated processing anddata communication systems is the reliability or integrity of dataacquired and communicated among the elements of the system. The level ofdata integrity and reliability is especially important to facilitiesmanagement systems which seek to achieve robust control of anenvironment or process by updating manipulated variables to desiredstates based on measured parameters of the process. Current systems failto develop and effectively use reliability or data integrity indicatorsto produce controlled variations of system performance based on thequality of measured data.

Numerous computerized systems exist which perform high-level functionsbased on data obtained from various data acquisition devices. Afacilities management system (FMS) used for industrial and environmentcontrol is one example of such a computerized system. Due to the widevariety of data acquisition and control hardware used in such systems,standard functional interfaces usually do not exist. In conventionalsystems, different software implementations are required to accomplishthe different functions performed by the hardware to which interfacesare made. For example, programming required to receive data from acounter is different from that required to receive data from avoltmeter. Conventional systems with proportional and integral andderivative (PID) controllers also do not have prepackaged softwarefunctions which can interface to a variety of physical instruments.Programming required to obtain specific functions results in softwareindividually tailored for specific pieces of hardware. In addition, somePID controllers require additional hardware to interface with specificsystems. Thus, conventional systems do not provide a convenient meansfor transferring information between a hardware device performing dataacquisition functions and a controller.

In the case of operating hardware which provides a binary input havingtwo possible states to the computer (binary input hardware), variousdebouncing functions may be required, a normally open or normally closedstate may be reversed from one apparatus to another, and alarmprocessing and triggering may be different depending on a function beingperformed by higher level software. In addition, some systems mayrequire displaying the state of a binary input or overriding such inputsunder certain circumstances. Additionally, some higher level softwarefeatures may also require maintaining a history of binary input hardwarestates, a function which cannot be performed by many binary input typedevices. Thus, conventional systems do not provide a convenient meansfor transforming binary input information between an operating binaryinput hardware device and a controller.

Output drive requirements of numerous analog and digital devices presentsimilar difficulties. For example, programming required to drive acounter is different from that required to drive a voltmeter.Conventional systems with proportional and integral and derivative (PID)controllers also do not have prepackaged software functions which caninterface to a variety of physical instruments. Programming required toobtain specific functions results in software individually tailored forspecific pieces of hardware. In addition, some PID controllers requireadditional hardware to interface with specific systems.

Different priority queues, different minimum on and off times, differentdelay features and different alarm reporting requirements result inmultiple software implementations. In addition, various output deviceswhich can be driven to one of two states may require either a momentarysignal or a maintained signal on a single line or on different lines toremain in the desired state. Programming required to obtain specificfunctions results in software individually tailored for specific piecesof hardware. As a result, when the hardware is changed, numeroussoftware changes are also required. Thus, conventional systems do notprovide a convenient means for driving binary output hardware units.

In a conventional system, operation of proportional plus integral plusderivative controllers used in Facilities Management Systems hastraditionally involved control of one loop at a time. Multiple instancesof such PID loops have not been controlled using a single softwareapproach due to the variations in such loops.

Another factor in the design of facilities management and other systemsis the design of control systems which are tolerant of system componentfailures which has been an objective for decades. The motivations forincreasing levels of fault tolerance include improved human safety,equipment safety, and control of system performance. The most basic formof fault tolerance involves the application of fail-safe systemcomponents. In the traditional pneumatic HVAC controls industry, thisoften involves the use of normally open valves for heating applicationsand normally closed actuators for mixed air damper applications. Underthese circumstances, a system failure (e.g., loss of compressed air,temperature transmitter failure) returns the mechanical system to asafe, although potentially uncomfortable and uneconomic state. Inelectronic control systems, electric actuators can be specified withautomatic spring returns to provide a similar fail-safe functionality.

With the introduction of digital control systems, a higher degree offault tolerance is possible. The digital controller has the ability totrap specific input signal fault conditions, such as a sensormalfunction, and can then partially compensate for that failure insoftware. The flexible software response is referred to as a fail-softfeature. Examples of fail-soft functionality in the event of a sensorfailure include: 1) maintaining the current control signal, 2)commanding the control device to an intermediate safe position, or 3)computing an appropriate control signal based on an alternativestrategy.

Aside from the application of redundant components, the use of analternative or backup control strategy provides the best opportunity forsimultaneously maintaining equipment safety, occupant comfort, andenergy efficiency in the event of an instrumentation failure. Anextension of the fail-soft concept involves the application of anintelligent strategy which individually adapts to a specific controlledprocess and can satisfy nominal system performance requirements overextended periods of time in the event of a failure. Some intelligentstrategies are currently applied in advanced military aircraft andnuclear power plants. The method and apparatus described below is anintelligent backup control strategy to be applied in the HVAC industry.

Facilities management systems employ both demand limiting and loadrolling for energy optimization. The demand limiting feature monitorsthe current energy consumption over a sliding interval of timecorresponding to the demand interval used by the power company. Thisfeature controls the system to maintain an average energy consumptionbelow an established limit. Conventional systems which do not usehistorical data to predict future demand, tend to overreact to suddenpeaks in energy consumption, and as a result shed excessive loads. Theload rolling feature reduces total energy consumption by periodicallyshutting loads off for short periods of time. The user specifies atarget amount of load to remain off. Systems that do not accommodateenvironmental conditions may cause extremes in areas controlled by loadsthat are shed for too long a period of time.

In a distributed facilities management system, loads might bedistributed over multiple control nodes. However, one node runs thedemand limiting and load rolling features, shedding loads on its andother nodes in the system. After shedding a load, a problem can occurwhere communications can be lost between the node issuing the shedcommand and the node that contains the load. In such a situation theload could remain shed indefinitely causing environmental extremes inareas controlled by the load. The node commanding the load shedding mayalso experience time delays and information bottlenecks in its attemptto monitor every load and its environmental overrides.

Conventional structures of program instructions used in facilitiesmanagement systems have several drawbacks. Program statements andinstructions requiring data must access that data from addressablestorage locations. Thus a two step process involving identifying theaddress and later accessing the data in the address is required. Inaddition, conventional program structures do not permit immediateresponse to changing system conditions. Presently the program mustspecifically test a variable periodic intervals. Similarly it isdifficult to share variables among processes. The resulting limitationsof these program language constraints reduce processing through put.

Motors, actuators, dampers, positioning type mechanisms, and otherdevices and transducers in control applications often require an analogdrive signal. Such analog drive signals may be either voltage or currentsources depending on the requirements of the driven device. Generally,such analog output signals have their voltage or current outputsreferenced to a common ground and are thus single ended. Large physicaldistances often exist between the analog signal source and the drivendevice. Cable mismatches and noisy environments through which cablesinterconnecting the analog source and the driven device pass introduce apath for entry of noise and ground current loops in such multi-portcontrol systems. Often, the noise introduced has a summing effectrelative to a common node, such as circuit ground, resulting indistorting the system control and operation. While there have been someattempts to eliminate such problems in analog voltage output circuits, amore comprehensive approach addressing both analog voltage and analogcurrent outputs is needed.

Another important factor in achieving high level performance offacilities management systems is reducing effects of both external andself-induced noise. In addition, it is necessary for a system to provideimmunity to external electromagnetic interference (EMI) and prevent thegeneration of unwanted levels of EMI which may effect other systems.This is particularly critical where wide dynamic range is required, forexample, to accommodate both extremely low level sensor signals and muchlarger digital and binary signals. Systems which employ a single powersupply and other known power supply filtering techniques may fail toprovide sufficient isolation from spurious signals or sufficientreliability, due to their reliance on a sole power supply. Similarly,many contemporary systems also fail to sufficiently isolate digitalsignal lines from sensors which are subject to extremes ofenvironmentally induced spurious signals. This is particularly importantin systems employing bus structures and networks. An unpredictablevariation in a single sensor on a network can result in systemicproblems, if the signal is communicated to other devices connected tothe same communications media. A further need for isolation from effectsof failures of devices interconnected on a common communications mediaalso exist. Omitting such isolation exposes networks and sub-networks tocomplete breakdown should a failure occur in a single node. Thus, it isdesirable at all levels of system interconnection to provide forisolating interconnected system components from each other. Similarly,as mentioned above, it is also desirable to provide graceful systemdegradation in the presence of a failure.

Other limitations of facilities management systems arise in theconnections of various devices to control nodes. Multiple devices,especially if connected on a bus, introduce noise on the transmissionmedium. In addition, the transmission medium may be susceptible to noisefrom other internal and external sources. Both differential noise, inwhich opposite polarity voltages appear on two leads of a transmissionmedium, e.g., a twisted pair, and common mode noise, in which the samenoise is induced on both lines of the bus, are possible. Even whereoptical coupling of devices to the bus is used, it may be necessary totake steps to further reduce noise effects.

SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

In view of the limitations of the related art described above, it is anobject of the invention to provide a method for substantially isolatingthe software providing the interface between higher level softwarefeatures and operational units.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method andapparatus for allowing changes to operational units without requiringextensive higher level software changes.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an intermediate levelof software which treats all inputs and outputs in the same wayindependent of the characteristics of the operational units.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a furtherintermediate level of software which controls interfaces between ahigher software level and operational unit hardware.

It is a further object of the invention that the first intermediatelevel of software treat all higher level software requests for data fromoperational units in the same way.

It is a further object of the invention that the further intermediatelevel of software categorize hardware units into types which can bemanipulated according to a standardized approach for the type.

It is a further object of the invention that all intermediate levels ofsoftware have a database of attributes and a common method and set ofmessages for manipulating the attributes.

It is still another object of the invention to provide broad dataconstructs for accommodating remotely controlled operational units.

It is still another object of the invention to provide data constructsminimizing the need to reproduce the same data or data attributes formultiple operational units.

It is another object of the invention to provide data constructs withattributes defining paths to at least one other data construct.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide data constructscontaining attributes of an associated data construct.

In another aspect, it is an object of the invention to provide aflexible, reliable method of accessing data among nodes in a distributedsystem.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of accessingdata in a distributed system without requiring a central look up node.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method forproviding data in a distributed system without requiring a search of theentire network on every reference to the data.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of accessingdata within a distributed system by assigning a unique name to the dataelement when it is first defined.

It is a further object of the invention to bind the unique name of thedata element to a host node at the time the data element is firstaccessed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of accessingdata in a distributed network using a multi-level naming conventionbased on a user defined name and the physical location of the dataelement on the network.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a naming conventionin which a user assigns names to data elements independent of where thedata element is located on a network.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a naming conventionin which a name is bound to a unique address, such as a physicallocation and data base location within the node, when it is referencedfor the first time in the running network.

It is a further object of the invention to provide for subsequentreferences to data elements using the user assigned name bound to theunique address.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a distributed systemhaving time synchronization of system nodes.

It is another object of the invention to provide a distributed systemhaving synchronized databases of global variables among the nodes.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a system with nodeswhich periodically broadcast their presence on a system using timestamps indicating when the nodes' database of global variables was lastupdated.

It is a further object of the invention to coordinate all nodes on anetwork to incorporate the global database of the node having the mostrecently updated global database.

It is a further object of the invention to detect and reportinconsistencies and duplication of data constructs in their respectivedatabases.

It is a further object of the invention for the system to recognizedirectory entries in the nodes' databases which have multipledefinitions in other locations on the system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide nodes without routingtables the ability to identify other nodes with routing tables in orderto identify paths to route download requests from the nodes withoutrouting tables to devices containing download information.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a system wherein dataconstructs allow high level features in the nodes to be notified ortriggered by changes of state in attributes and objects on other nodes.

It is a further object of the invention to detect changes in locationsof object and attributes in the system and to notify features activatedor triggered by the objects or attributes.

It is another object of the invention to report results produced bysystem processes to appropriate display and storage devices.

It is another object of the invention to detect changes in physicallocations of display and storage devices and route reports to thecorrect devices.

It is another object of the invention to reduce the volume of datatraffic required to produce standard or predefined summaries of data forstorage or display.

It is a further object of the invention to filter data used in producingstandard summaries by defining criteria for data retrieval in a highlevel feature directory routed to a task in the same node as a directoryof the data to be retrieved.

It is a further object of the invention to retrieve standard summarydata according to nodes identified in a directory and to assemble thedata in the node containing the directory into a message fortransmission to a feature generating the summary.

In another aspect, it is an object of the invention to provide a systemallowing devices not included in the original network configuration tocommunicate with configured nodes on the network.

It is another object of the invention to allow such non-configureddevices to receive messages from configured nodes on the network.

It is yet another object of the invention to allow such non-configureddevices access to networks which employ either adaptive or non-adaptiverouting strategies.

It is a further object of the invention to allow such non-configureddevices access to the network without requiring the down loading orupdating of static or dynamic routing tables in existing nodes.

It is a further object of the invention to allow such non-configureddevices to be attached to a first configured node on a network using oneof either an adaptive or non-adaptive routing strategy and to receivemessages from other nodes on other networks using the same or adifferent routing strategy.

It is a still further object of the invention to allow suchnon-configured devices access to a network without requiring shutdown ofthe system.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide access to acommunication system on demand by processing devices without requiringtheir membership in a network on the system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such processingdevices access to a system to perform diagnostics, maintenance, andadministrative functions from anywhere in the system.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a processingdevice access to a data communication system on demand without requiringchanges to global variables or static or dynamic routing tables ordirectories.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a data communicationsapproach which allows access to data remote from the requestingprocessor without creating unnecessary message traffic.

It is a further object of the invention to reduce unnecessary access tosensor data in a facilities management system.

It is still a further object of the invention to prevent slavecontrollers from providing unnecessary information to a mastercontroller which does not require it.

It is a further object of the invention to control access to sensorinformation based on the expected rate of change of the parametermeasured by the sensor.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a master controllerwhich regulates access to sensor information by remote slave controllersaccording to the validity of the sensor and the data transfer needs ofthe system.

It is a further object of the invention to regulate access to data byremote master controllers connected on a network bus to a mastercontroller regulating the data producing processor on a local bus.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a system withprograms which can be easily modified by routing control to differentportions of firmware memories.

It is another object of the invention to provide such routing infirmware memory by executing calls to program segments through erasablepointers identifying the next section of code to be executed.

It is a further object of the invention to store and execute softwarepatches containing revised or additional code from an area of memorywithin a node as identified by an erasable pointer within the node.

It is another object of the invention to implement such erasablepointers in erasable memory in the form of a pointer table accessed byeach subroutine call in a main program.

It is still another object of the invention to test reliability of dataelements and tag a status of the tested data with an indicator of itsreliability.

It is a further object of the invention to report the reliabilityindicators associated with data elements throughout the system. It is afurther object of the invention to associate a reliability indicatorwith data used in intermediate calculations throughout a system todetermine a reliability indication of a result obtained through one ormore calculations.

In another aspect it is an object of the invention to receive signalsfrom hardware operating units operated by control systems and convertthese signals to appropriate data formats for use by high-level softwarefeatures in the control system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a unified approach totransferring information between the controller and a variety of typesof data acquisition devices.

It is still a further object of the invention to convert raw data in theform of analog to digital (A/D) counts into floating point values thatrepresent characteristics of an analog signal, e.g. amplitude, polarity,frequency, periodicity, etc.

Another object of the invention is to provide a software object at anintermediate level of a system to interface to analog input hardwareresiding on a variety of operational input hardware devices.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object residing in software which performs signal conditioningoperations on inputs from analog hardware in order to provide a commonformat of variables supplied to higher-level software features.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object which performs alarm detection and reporting independentof the operation of higher-level software features.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object which performs a variety of specific prepackagedfunctions applicable to a particular system, e.g., a facilitiesmanagement system.

It is another object of the invention to provide the ability to overridea value reported by an operational input hardware device.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a status indicationof the operational input hardware device identifying when the hardwaredevice is off-line or unreliable.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object which can map to different hardware types and providerequired information to higher-level software features independent ofthe hardware used to obtain the raw data value.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object which performs functions on data and has attributesaccessible to the functions.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object located in a network controller or having functionsdistributed over multiple pieces of equipment.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an analog inputsoftware object which can be used in closed loop control associated withfacilities management systems.

In a further aspect it is an object of the invention to provide anapparatus with means to sense the state of an external contact or ameans to sense the presence or absence of a signal.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a means for"debouncing" a binary input hardware signal.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a means to displaythe state of binary input hardware whose state would otherwise beunknown.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an overridefeature allowing an operator to select a desired state of binary inputhardware to be communicated to a higher level software function.

It is a further object of the invention to provide alarm detection whena binary input value produced by the hardware varies from a userspecified normal condition.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an alarm delaytimer which prevents alarm reports for user specified time periods.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a means forarchiving and displaying a history of a binary input hardware pointbased on sample point data.

It is also an object of the invention to translate commands from controlsystems and convert these commands to appropriate signals which resultin activation of physical hardware.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a unified approach totransferring information from the controller to achieve control ofdifferent physical devices.

It is a still another object of the invention to convert commands fromfloating point values representing a percentage of full scale deflectioninto individual signals capable of moving actuators or developingvoltages or currents as required by attached physical devices.

It is a further object of the invention to implement a built-in set ofpriorities among several sources of commands to aid a user inconfiguring a system.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a closed loopcontrol method which can maintain a single set point using multipledevices by providing separate outputs derived from a single control loopoutput.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a span function whichallows appropriate sequencing of multiple devices wherein each deviceperforms a function over a specified range so that devices appear as asingle device to a PID controller.

It is still a further object of the invention to allow a PID controllerto provide a standard set of outputs independent of the requirements ofthe physical output device.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus andmethod which handles proportional analog outputs.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus andmethod which handles incremental or delta modulation type outputs.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a control systemwhich supports a hardware override function.

It is a further object of the invention to report the status of ahardware override throughout the system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a control systemwhich can be used with an analog input in tandem to detect alarmconditions.

In an additional aspect, it is an object of the invention to providesoftware in the form of a generalized binary output object which cantranslate commands from high-level software features in control systemsand convert these commands to appropriate signals which activate binaryhardware output devices.

It is a further object of the invention to provide in such a softwareobject a database having both methods and attributes controlled by adatabase manager to carry out translation and other functions.

It a further object of the invention to provide built in levels ofpriority to allow coordination of commands issued by various high-levelsoftware features.

It is a further object of the invention to allow a user, during systemconfiguration, to specify levels of priority which are automaticallyimplemented during system operation.

It is a further object of the invention to verify that a binary outputcommand has been acted on by the device by associating a binary outputobject with a binary input object also implemented in software.

It is still another object of the invention to prevent stress onequipment driven by binary output objects by programming a minimum onand off time and the maximum number of starts per hour of the equipmentconnected to a binary output. It is a further object of the invention toprovide a delay between starting successive equipment connected tobinary outputs to avoid power surges.

It is another object of the invention to provide for specifying either anormally open or a normally closed contact for both start and stopconditions.

It is a further object of the invention to provide control of maintainedbinary output devices which are energized by a signal in a start stateand de-energized by a signal in a stop state.

It is a further object of the invention to provide control of momentarybinary output hardware devices energized by a start pulse applied to oneportion of the device and a stop pulse applied to a second portion ofthe device.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an overridecapability to manually turn a binary output on or off.

It a further object of the invention to broadcast throughout the systeman indication of an override condition.

It is a further object of the invention to allow a user to selectbetween reporting and locking out reporting of change of status of abinary output.

It is a further object of the invention to record a timed stampedhistory of commands executed.

It is another object of the invention to provide software in the form ofa generalized proportional plus integral plus derivative control objectto translate commands from high-level software features in controlsystems and convert these commands to appropriate signals which activateand control a proportional plus integral plus derivative (PID) controlloop (e.g., activate and control devices as part of a closed loopcontrol process).

It is a further object of the invention to provide a predictable andcontrolled transfer from control by a scheme outside a PID loop tocontrol by PID automatic control means.

It is a further object of the invention to eliminate the hysteresiseffect that a controller may experience between the output controlling aprocess and a sensed feedback from the process.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an adjustable deadband to PID control.

It is a further object of the invention to provide software mechanism inthe form of a PID device object to interface actual PID hardware toother software objects.

It is a further object of the invention to provide scheduling means forPID loops.

In view of desirability of implementing improved back-up controlstrategies in HVAC applications, it is an object of the invention toprovide an HVAC control system with the ability to maintain control overa process when an input variable becomes unreliable.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide operation of aprocess, even when feedback from the process is lost or unreliable,based on a model of the system or process and other system inputs.

It is a still further object of the invention to employ a set ofparameters locked at the time that the system or feedback becomesunreliable.

It is a still further object of the invention to adjust a manipulatedvariable based on the state of process variables just prior to thesystem or process becoming unreliable and based on current status ofprocess variables.

It is a still further object of the invention to control response of anHVAC system to a changing setpoint in the presence of an unreliablevariable.

It is still another object of the invention to predict energy demand ina future demand time period based on the current demand and historicalcollected data.

It is a further object of the invention to automatically vary on and offtimes of a load to accommodate the predicted energy demand therebymaintaining average demand below the target.

It is a further object of the invention to adjust operating time of aload to minimize costs by shifting energy consumption from expensiveperiods of high demand to less expensive periods of lower demand.

It is a further object of the invention to adjust the operating time ofa load to also accommodate environmental conditions in areas affected bythe load.

In another aspect, it is an object of the invention to ensure thatcommunications between demand limiting and load rolling features in onenode and objects in other nodes do not become impaired by excessivetraffic.

It is a further object of the invention that loads shed as a result ofdemand limiting remain shed until communications with the demandlimiting feature are restored.

It is a further object of the invention to assure that a load shed as aresult of load rolling be restored even if communication with the nodecontaining the load rolling feature are not restored.

It is a further object of the invention to provide shed and restorecharacteristics as attributes as part of an object rather than as partof a higher level software feature.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a message to anobject manager to redirect load related characteristics for the loadlocal to the node using a restore task localized within the node.

In another aspect, it is an object of the invention to provide a meansfor programming predefined features into a facilities management system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a data construct inthe programming language which allows remembering data values inprogramming statements rather than variables.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a programminglanguage with a plurality of executable statements which remember valuesfrom one execution of the statement to a next execution of thestatement.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a data constructwhich allows a facilities management system to trigger execution of aprocess based on a change to an element in the system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide data constructs whichautomatically sign-up to be informed of changes in any triggerableattribute of any object.

It is a further object of the invention to provide data constructs thatare not dependent on objects in the facilities management system and areindependent of the types of controllers or objects on the system andcreate a substantially generic interface to system objects.

It is a further object of the invention to provide data constructs forsharing variables among algorithms.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a data construct inwhich a change to a Boolean shared variable can be used to trigger aprocess.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a software functionwhich resets a set point in a closed loop system by means of aproportional plus integral plus derivative calculation.

In another aspect, it is an object of the invention to provide auniversal analog output circuit which allows selecting a balanced outputvoltage or balanced output current.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit which maintains high accuracy of the output driver.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit which decouples its outputs from ground loop currentsinduced when load grounds are connected together.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit with a sample and hold feature such that a single D/Aoutput can drive multiple circuits.

It is a still further object of the invention to integrate a sample andhold circuit within a closed control loop of a analog output circuit, sothat compensation for multiple sources of errors can be effected.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput control circuit with a current sense network for sensing thecurrent at the analog output whether the output is a voltage or currentdrive type.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a current sensenetwork which, in the current drive case, senses an analog outputcurrent as part of a feedback to control the current output of an analogoutput circuit.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit with a current sense network which, in a voltage drivecase, protects against a short circuit load at the output.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit with balanced differential outputs.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit which is not destroyed by the misapplication of largevoltages to either of a pair of outputs.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit with a pair of outputs having a positive side and anegative side linked together.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit with an open a common emitter configuration in bothoutputs to provide for high reverse breakdown voltages protection.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an analogoutput circuit a pair of balanced outputs with one of the outputs beingan inverted image of the other output.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide electronicselection of a balanced voltage output or a balanced current output.

It is an object of the invention to reduce noise coupling among localdevices connected to a node.

It is another object of the invention to provide optical coupling ofsignals between the nodes and local devices connected to a local bus.

It is another object of the invention to ameliorate effects ofdifferential mode noise induced on the bus by biasing the leads of thebus to a predetermined voltage.

It is a further object of the invention to protect optical isolatorsfrom large common mode voltages by using tranzorbs and metal oxidevaristors to shunt such high voltages safely to ground.

It is a further object of the invention to provide indicators of when anode is transmitting and receiving data.

It is a further object of the invention to provide separate digital andcommunications power supplies to portions of the local bus interfacecircuits.

It is a further objective to provide an optocoupler to isolate thedigital and communications power supplies.

It is a still further object of the invention to operate a system withno ill effects with up to 2500 volts, peak, noise on the communicationpower supply.

To accomplish the above objects of the invention, software is organizedinto multiple levels. The highest or "features" level communicates witha software object level containing software object database managers anddatabases. The software object level treats all inputs and outputs toand from the features level the same way. In addition, the softwareobject level communicates with a lower intermediate level, the hardwareobject level. The hardware object level contains a hardware objectdatabase manager and databases. The hardware object level operates tomask the differences between individual operational units to thesoftware object level. The hardware object level categorizes dataacquisition units so that additional units of a known type can be addedwith no more than a minor database change. Additional types ofoperational units can also be added while software changes are confinedto the hardware object level. Thus, new units can be incorporatedwithout any major impact on overall system software.

To accomplish the above objects of the invention software also employspoints and pseudo points. One or more attributes define a point as avector quantity. The values of the attributes which characterize thevector quantity are obtained from operational units, such as sensors.Each individual point is an independent vector quantity which is definedwithout reference to any other point in the system. A pseudo point isalso a vector quantity defined by attributes. However, at least one ofthe attributes of a pseudo point identifies an associated point orattribute of a point. Additional attributes of the pseudo point are thenobtained from the identified point to facilitate intermediatecalculations without requiring repeated access to the operational unitassociated with the point.

Other aspects of the above objects of the invention are alsoaccomplished by a multi-level naming convention. First, each dataelement is assigned a name unique to the system, so that it is a uniqueidentifier which is used only for that piece of data. The nameassignment is done when the data element is created in a networkgeneration process. When the name is referenced the first time in therunning network, the name is assigned or bound to a unique addressidentifying both the node location and the data base location within thenode. This is done by searching the network for the data element by namethe first time it is referenced. Thereafter, this bound reference isused to locate the data element at each subsequent reference to thatdata element during run time.

In another aspect, the objects of the invention are accomplished bymaintaining consistency among global variables in the nodes. At regularintervals each node broadcasts its presence and a time stamp indicatingthe most recent update of its data base of global variables. The nodesreceiving the broadcast compare their time stamps with the one mostrecently broadcast. If the time stamps are not the same, the receivingnode requests the broadcasting node with the latest data to download themore recent global variable data base. This occurs so that all the nodeshave the most recent global variables.

In another aspect, the objects of the invention are accomplished bydividing a facilities management system into a plurality of individualsystems with each of a plurality of nodes having a list of all the namesin systems defined on the nodes. In order to allow the systems to bedistributed over one or more interconnected networks, the systemdefinitions include a directory of objects for the system stored on thesystem defining node. The directory defines which node the object islocated on so that it is not necessary for all the objects of the systemto be resident on a single node. When objects are moved around from thecontrol of one node to another, the directories are updated.

Another aspect of the above objects of the invention is accomplished byusing a single node to coordinate timing within the system. The timekeeping node monitors calendar date and time of day to assure thatregularly scheduled activities take place as required. In addition,should the node monitoring calendar date and time become disabled, asecond node performs this function.

Another aspect of the above objects of the invention is accomplished bymaintaining calendar date and time of day information in all the nodesdistributed on a system. The nodes are time synchronized byredistributing to all the nodes date and time information at a fixedtime every day under normal operating conditions. This permits routineupdating and synchronization on a regular basis of the plurality ofnodes.

In another aspect, the above objects of the invention are accomplishedby providing nodes the ability to cascade download requests throughother nodes. A node without a routing table identifies another node witha routing table which can identify a path to route a download request.Thus, once a first node contains a routing table a second node without arouting table can receive download information from an external devicethrough the node with the routing table.

Another aspect of the above objects of the invention is accomplished bytriggering attributes of objects in response to changes of state. Objectmanagers and high level software features "sign-up" to be notified whenspecific events occur. For example, an alarm might be triggered when asensor exceeds a known threshold. It is not necessary that the objectmanager which handles the sensor information and the feature be locatedat the same node. The feature need only "sign-up" to be notified by theappropriate object manager. However, in the event that the objectmanager is changed the sign-up becomes invalid. This is detected and thefeature is notified.

In another aspect, the objects of the invention are accomplished bydistributing the routing of reports. Routing information is retainedwithin each node on the network as global data. Reports emanating fromthe node are routed through a report router task for ultimatedistributions to the destination device. The report routing task acts asintermediary between input/output routines of the nodes. The reportrouter determines if the input/output routine can route the report to adestination device. If not, the report router determines if a second ordefault device is available. If not the message is discarded and thereport routers are so notified. If a default device is available, thereport is routed to the default device.

In another aspect, the above objects of the invention are accomplishedby reducing the volume of data traffic required to produce the standardor predefined summaries of data for storage or display. This isaccomplished by localizing filtering of data at the node of which theparticular object directory of interest is located. Standard summarydata is obtained from the nodes identified in a directory of a firstnode. The data need not be obtained from devices connected to the firstnode, but obtained from the nodes identified in the directory. When thedata is obtained it is assembled in the node containing the directoryinto a message for transmission to the high level software featuregenerating the summary. The high level software feature may be locatedin any node.

The above objects of the invention are further accomplished by attachinga non-configured device to a port on a configured node of a network. Thenon-configured device, which contains its own process identifiers,communicates via that port with the configured network node. Theconfigured network node communicates with other configured network nodesto route messages from the non-configured device to their destinations.Destination nodes recognize the message source as the configured networknode or as a non-configured device dropped from a port on a configurednode. Thus, at the destination node, responses generated are transparentto the status of the source as a non-configured device. The finaldestination node responds as though the message is from a configurednode and the response message follows the same or an alternate datacommunication path back to the configured node having the non-configureddevice connected to its port. Based on communications over a dropbetween the non-configured node and the configured node, the configurednode provides the message to the non-configured device which delivers itto a process identified in the message. This allows any configured nodeto respond to data requests made by a non-configured device.

Other aspects of the above objects of the invention are accomplished bya method and apparatus in which a master controller stores sensor valuesin a data aging table and associates each sensor value with a valid timeframe. All requests for data during the valid time frame are serviced bytransmitting the value from the data aging table in the mastercontroller. This prevents further data requests to the slave controllerand reduces message traffic on either the local or the network bus. Thisalso allows matching the aging timer value to the characteristics of thesensor data.

In another aspect, the objects of the invention are accomplished by amemory system in which every call to a subroutine results in accessing apointer stored in a erasable section of memory. The pointer identifiesthe next section of code to be executed. Since the pointer is erasable,the next section of code to be executed for each subroutine call can bealtered electronically. Thus control can be transferred to a section ofmemory other than that originally programmed. This allows additionalflexibility in operating the system by providing for easy incorporationof software patches. Since every call to a subroutine results inaccessing the pointers, it is not necessary to provide blank spaces ofmemory to accommodate jumps to previously undefined memory locations.Control is easily transferred by changing the value of the pointer tothe newly desired memory location.

In another aspect, the objects of the invention are accomplished byproviding an indicator to detect the status of data reliability. Eachdata element is assigned a reliability indicator which is propagatedthroughout all the calculations involving the data element. As a result,it is possible to determine an overall certainty of the accuracy of acalculation, since each intermediate calculation also considers thereliability of the data elements.

The above objects of the invention are further accomplished by an analoginput software object which interfaces to analog input hardware residingon a variety of hardware devices. The analog hardware input is receivedand ranged using an equation and parameters unique to the operationalhardware device. Optional filtering, square root, and span functions canthen be performed on the ranged value to provide information in a formatcompatible with higher-level software features. The analog inputsoftware object then checks the final value against the warning and/oralarm limits to determine the current status of the object. In addition,a point history can be stored to provide trend analysis. The final valueis in the form of a floating point value representative of the physicalsystem. Using the alarm features, the software object detects andreports excursions from the normal state and provides an override of thecurrent value to force the parameter to a specified value.

The above objects of the invention are also accomplished by a binaryinput software object which interfaces to binary input operatinghardware residing on a variety of hardware devices. A signal from thebinary input hardware is received and a contact condition determined. Adebounce filter produces a filtered binary input and the current stateof the binary input is examined for alarm analysis by the binary inputsoftware object. In addition, the point's history can be stored toprovide trend analysis. Using the alarm features, the software objectdetects and reports excursions from the normal state and provides anoverride of the current value to force a binary parameter to a specifiedstate.

The above objects of the invention are further accomplished by aprepackaged analog output object software function to accomplish theobjectives outlined above. The prepackaged software functions require nospecialized additional hardware and provide a unified approach to devicecontrol independent of hardware. The software resides either in PIDhardware and/or in a network controller which supports an objectmanager. Local commands from a PID loop are represented in percentagesof full scale deflection of the driven device. The command is translatedinto a current command and a span range is selected. Fixed span outputsin the form of digital counts are provided as are output pulses whoseduration is a function of the difference in the change in command, thusreflecting the change in the full scale output required.

The above objects of the invention are further accomplished by a binaryoutput object software function residing either in binary outputhardware or in a network controller which supports a binary outputsoftware object manager. The binary output software object managerreceives commands from high-level software features and access methodsand attributes to control binary outputs directed to output deviceshaving two stable states.

The above objects of the invention are accomplished by a proportionaland integral and derivative controller software object which is based onsampling a feedback value at consistent time intervals. The objectincorporates the proportional, integral, and derivative termsindependently so that the individual terms may be removed. Thisfacilitates having any combination of proportional, integral andderivative controls. The PID software object employs points and pseudopoints on which input conditioning is performed and which are processedaccording to a sample period, proportional band, and other parameters.By outputting a percentage of full scale deflection of a variable, thecorresponding output port may be driven.

The above objects of the invention are also accomplished using a faulttolerant control strategy to predict steady state change in a controlledvariable for a given change in inlet process conditions. Applying asimplified model based on measures of effectiveness, the change ineffectiveness due to a change in a process variable is derived. Furtherassuming that the process model will only be valid for a limited regionaround the current operating point allows calculation of a manipulatedvariable value based on previous values of the manipulated variable,other manipulated variables, primary and secondary process variables,the initial value of the controlled variable, and a setpoint. Byincorporating the setpoint and primary and secondary process variablesinto a system dependent only on the initial value of the controlledvariable, a variable can be manipulated based on current inputs andsystem history, even though the controlled variable or feedback signalis presently unreliable.

In another aspect, the above objects of the invention are accomplishedby incorporating a programming language which is enhanced over otherlanguages used in facilities management systems. The language includesthe ability to transmit data through executable statements themselvesrather than through variables, and automatically sign-up for executingstatements when such variables reach their trigger points. In additionto providing a generic interface to the objects in a facilitiesmanagement system such that data values can be read through the name ofthe object and the name of the data field to be read, similar constructsare applied for writing values and commanding objects. Moreover, thedata constructs provide for sharing variables between two or morealgorithms so that multiple algorithms may read and update the datavalue. Another data construct in the language allows for resetting a setpoint by means of a proportional plus calculation.

In another aspect the above objects of the invention are accomplished bypredicting energy demand in a future demand period based on a window ofprevious energy consumption. In response to the predicted energy demand,commands can be issued to shed loads contributing to the demand so thata demand limit is not exceeded. Loads that are shed either by the demandlimiting or load rolling feature will be restored either due to adefineable time period expiring or as a result of an extreme in anenvironmental condition being detected in an area affected by the load.

A high level feature which sheds a load may lose communication with theload since loads are distributed over multiple nodes in a system. To becertain that a load shed as a result of a load rolling command isrestored after a prescribed time interval for that load, a restore taskis localized within each node. Specific shed and restore characteristicsare stored as attributes of the object in the node with the load and notas part of the demand limit/load rolling high level software feature.This allows high level software features in one node to shed loadsdistributed over the system without requiring that communications bemaintained with the load in order to restore the load at the propertime.

A localized restore task also will monitor environmental conditionsaffected by the load and, thus, eliminate the extra traffic on thenetwork by removing that task from the node running the demandlimit/load rolling feature.

The above objects of the invention are further accomplished by an analogoutput circuit with a current sense network, a switchable feedbackstage, and a balancing network. In one embodiment, a voltage input and avoltage feedback signal are applied through a buffer to a sample andhold circuit, the output of the sample and hold is summed with thefeedback signal and the result is amplified and passed to the currentsense network. The output of the current sense network provides a firstof the balanced outputs. A mirroring circuit connected to the firstoutput provides a balanced second output equal in magnitude but oppositein plurality from the signal at the first output. Since the signalstrack each other precisely, errors introduced by ground loops and othernoisy effects are eliminated. The feedback stage is switchable so thatthe voltage output from a voltage driver is fed back and so that thecurrent output from a current driver is converted to a voltage outputfor feedback purposes.

Still other aspects of the above objects of the invention areaccomplished by a customized optical interface to a local optical buscompatible with the RS/485 Electronic Industries Associationspecification. The interface employs bias circuitry which is used to"swamp out" differential mode noise on the leads of the bus and transorband MOV circuitry to shunt common mode voltage and excessivedifferential-mode noise to ground. Optical isolators provide isolationbetween digital and communications power supplies and retriggerable oneshots are used to activate data transmission and reception indicatorssuch as LEDs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects of the invention are accomplished as described belowin accordance with the following figures:

FIG. 1 is a network control module according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a digital control module according to the invention.

FIG. 3 shows an expansion module according to the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a network control unit in a five slot configuration.

FIG. 5 shows a network control unit in a two slot configuration.

FIG. 6 shows a single slot configuration network control unit.

FIG. 7 tabulates modules used in one, two, and five slot configurationsof a network control unit.

FIG. 8 tabulates modules used in one, two, and five slot configurationsof a network expansion unit.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a sample facilities management systemconfiguration.

FIG. 10 illustrates a lighting controller used in a network according tothe invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a card access controller used in a network accordingto the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a intelligent fire controller used in a networkaccording to the invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates a facilities management configuration for smallbuildings.

FIG. 14 illustrates a facilities management configuration for mid-sizebuildings.

FIG. 15 illustrates a facilities management configuration for largebuildings.

FIG. 16 illustrates a facilities management configuration for remotebuildings.

FIG. 17 shows one system configuration according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 18 shows a more detailed view of various software levels.

FIG. 19 illustrates the use of points and pseudo points according to theinvention.

FIG. 20 is another overview of a system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating a first embodiment of the methodof the invention.

FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrating a second embodiment of the methodof the invention.

FIG. 23 illustrates a further optimization of the method in FIG. 22.

FIG. 24 illustrates an embodiment of the method of the invention usingmultiple levels of names.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of the invention when a name changes itsaddress within a node.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example of the invention when a name movesbetween nodes.

FIG. 27 illustrates a method of time synchronizing nodes according tothe invention.

FIG. 28 illustrates downloading global variables to nodes on the networkaccording to the invention.

FIG. 29 is a more detailed illustration of downloading variablesaccording to the invention.

FIG. 30 illustrates cascading of download devices according to theinvention.

FIG. 31 is a table showing transmission of messages when a downloadrequest originates from an archive unit.

FIG. 32 is a table illustrating a sequence of message passing when anode without a routing table initiates a download request.

FIG. 33 illustrates triggering of features from attributes of objects.

FIG. 34 illustrates distributive report routing according to theinvention.

FIG. 35 illustrates filtering of summary report data at local nodes.

FIG. 36 shows a more detailed description of the events which occur inapplying selection criteria to filtered attributes.

FIG. 37 shows an example of a non-configured device attached to aconfigured node for communicating over communications links with one ormore configured nodes.

FIG. 38 illustrates the message path between the non-configured andconfigured nodes in FIG. 1 along with various data communication layers.

FIG. 39 illustrates the transmission of a request from a non-configureddevice or a response from a configured device.

FIG. 40 illustrates the receipt of a request from a non-configureddevice or the receipt of a response from a configured device.

FIG. 41 tabulates a possible routing strategy for messages between thenon-configured device and a configured node.

FIG. 42 shows the general configuration of a facilities managementsystem.

FIG. 43 shows a basic configuration in which a master node communicateswith slave nodes over a local bus.

FIG. 44 shows another embodiment in which multiple master nodescommunicate over a network bus.

FIG. 45 shows a memory configuration with pointers to segments of memoryaccording to the invention.

FIG. 46 illustrates a method of tagging data with reliabilityindicators.

FIG. 47 shows an overview of a facilities management system with ananalog input object according to the invention.

FIG. 48 shows a more detailed overview of a network controller with ananalog input object.

FIG. 49 is a general model of an analog input software object.

FIG. 50 shows the input and output values for a span function.

FIG. 51 shows limits for change of state generation.

FIG. 52 shows an analog input software object with functions distributedbetween a network controller and a proportional integral differentialcontroller.

FIG. 53 is an overview of a facilities management system with a binaryinput object.

FIG. 54 shows a binary input object in a network controller.

FIG. 55 is a general model of a binary input object.

FIG. 56 shows a Binary Input Object used in a feedback loop.

FIG. 57 shows a binary input object and the interface to a proportional,integral, differential hardware controller, which may be implemented ina Digital Control Module (DCM) hardware controller.

FIG. 58 is an overview of a first type of analog output object.

FIG. 59 is an overview of a facilities management system with analogoutput devices.

FIG. 60 is an overview of an alternative facilities management systemwith PID hardware.

FIG. 61 illustrates the use of analog output objects to allow set pointmaintenance using multiple devices connected to a single PID controller.

FIG. 62 is an overview of a second type of analog output object.

FIG. 63 shows an analog output object used in operation with feedbackfor alarm analysis.

FIG. 64 is an overview of a facilities management system with a binaryoutput object.

FIG. 65 is an overview of a binary output object in a network controllerin a facilities management system.

FIG. 66 is an overview of a binary output object.

FIG. 67 shows one distribution of functions between a binary outputobject manager in a network controller and control hardware.

FIG. 68 illustrates processing of a PID Loop Object.

FIG. 69 shows a typical HVAC control system with a fault tolerantcontrol strategy implementation.

FIG. 70 shows the phases of implementing a fault tolerant controlstrategy.

FIG. 71 illustrates the inputs and outputs of the phases of thestrategy.

FIG. 72 illustrates one configuration of a system with a digital controlmodule and a network controller.

FIG. 73 shows one embodiment of the invention with a balanced output.

FIG. 74 shows multiple units according to the embodiment with balancedoutputs driven by a single source.

FIG. 75 shows a second embodiment of the invention with a balancedoutput.

FIG. 76 is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment with a balancedoutput.

FIG. 77 shows a configuration of a system with distributed load sheddingand localized restore tasks.

FIG. 78 shows a fault tolerant control configuration.

FIGS. 79A and 79B show process monitoring steps.

FIG. 80 shows steps in operating a fault tolerant controller.

FIG. 81 shows steps in switching a manipulating and backup variable.

FIG. 82 illustrates nodes operating slave devices over a local or slavebus.

FIGS. 83A and 83B illustrate an optical interface between a node and abus having slave devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows generally network control module 1-1 which has a processor1-3, dynamic random access memory 1-5, and electronically programmableread only memory 1-7. Network control module 1-1 communicates with highspeed bus 1-9, the N1 bus, so that network control module 1-1 can beinterconnected in a local area network configuration to other networkcontrol modules. A plurality of network control modules 1-1 connectedover high speed bus 1-9 form a network which can be interconnectedthrough gateways to other networks of network control modulesinterconnected on high speed buses. Network control module 1-1 furtherhas standard RS-232 interface 1-11 with a plurality of ports to providecommunication through a modem over port 1-13, a specialized networkterminal over port 1-15 and a computer, or printer over port 1-17. Fieldtrunk controllers 1-19 and 1-21 allow network control module 1-1 tocommunicate with field devices interconnected on communications media1-23 and 1-25.

Subnet controller 1-27 allows devices 1-29, 1-31, 1-33 to communicatewith network control module 1-1 over N2 bus 1-35. To isolate networkcontrol module 1-1 from spurious signals and power surges which maybecome impressed on N2 bus 1-35, N2 subnet controller 1-27 incorporatesan opto-22 interface 1-37, as shown. A network control module accordingto the invention functions as a central part of a network control unitdescribed below. Network control modules, either alone or as part ofnetwork control units, function as controllers for nodes interconnectedby the high speed N1 bus 1-9. Thus, a primary function of the networkcontrol module is to supervise peer-to-peer communications with othernetwork control modules or network control units and operator workstations on high speed bus 1-9.

In a facilities management system (FMS) the network control moduleperforms supervisory control of an area of a building. Thus, inaccordance with specialized programs, the network control modulesupervises maintaining environmental conditions according to programparameters and communicating with operational units, such as sensors andother devices connected to the network control module 1-1 via N2 bus1-35. Network control module 1-1 further manages communications over aRS-232 interface 1-11 to various person machine interfaces (PMI).Specialized devices in the facilities management system can be connectedvia field trunk controllers 1-21 and 1-19 and correspondingcommunication media 1-25 and 1-23. In a facilities management system(FMS) according to the invention, the network control module 1-1, whichis sometimes referred to as a network controller, is configured as aplug in module which mates with a connector on a backplane.

FIG. 2 shows digital control module 2-1 which also interfaces with aconnector on a backplane. Digital control module 2-1 includes processor2-3 and memory 2-5. Memory 2-5 is divided into a static random accessmemory section 2-7, and electronically programmable read only memory(EPROM) section 2-9, and an electronically erasable programmable readonly memory (EEPROM) 2-11. In addition, digital control module 2-1 hasinput/output sections 2-13 and 2-15. A digital control module 2-1 mayalso be incorporated into a network control unit according to theinvention, as discussed below. A digital control module conditionssensor inputs received through input/output sections 2-13 and 2-15 andreports changes to the network controller or network control module 1-1.In addition, in a facilities management system (FMS) the digital controlmodule performs closed loop control for a plurality of control loops.Thus, closed loop control can be accomplished without a network controlmodule. In addition, the digital control module 2-1 executes commandsreceived from network control module 1-1. Digital control module 2-1further may accept inputs either directly or through a function module.A function module (FM) also performs conditioning of an input or outputsignal. While a digital control module according to the invention canaccept inputs directly (100-1,000 ohms, RTD (resistive temperancedevice) 4-20 mA, 0-10 volts DC) or through an input function module, alloutputs from a digital control module 2-1 are characterized by functionmodule selection. A function module (not shown) conditions signals butdoes not perform sophisticated processing. Such function modules,according to the invention, are tailored to accommodate the specificconditioning function required. Thus, a function module may containsophisticated electronics tailored to perform a specific task or may beas simple as a single resistor.

Network control module 1-1 also performs numerous background tasks, asdiscussed below, to assure that each of the nodes on the system isoperating with the same global variables, is time synchronized, and hasconsistent directories of system names. In addition, software in thenetwork control modules 1-1 to reduce data communications, to track theaging of data, and to provide a uniform means of isolating high levelsoftware features from specialized operational units is discussed below.

Typical input function modules in a facilities management system includepressure/electric transducers, binary input contacts or AC line voltageconditioners, differential pressure inputs, and binary frequency inputs.Typical output function modules include analog outputs, analog outputswith isolated grounds, electric/pressure transducers, binary polarityreversing, triac incremental function modules, motor start/motor stopfunction modules, electrically maintained relay outputs, magneticallylatched relay outputs, and solenoid air valve function modules.

As shown in FIG. 3, expansion module (XM) 3-1 according to theinvention, includes processor 3-3 and memory 3-5. The memory istypically divided into static random access memory (SRAM) 3-7 andelectronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) 3-9.Point multiplex modules 3-11 provide a configurable input/output for theexpansion modules. The expansion module is also a plug in module whichplugs into a connector on a back plane in a node of a facilitiesmanagement system. The expansion modules condition binary, analog andpulse inputs and report changes to the network controller or networkcontrol module 1-1. In addition, the expansion module executes binaryoutput commands from network controller 1-1. Point multiplex modules3-11 provide five configurations of expansion modules. These include afirst configuration having 32 binary inputs, a second configurationhaving 8 binary inputs and 8 pairs of outputs using momentary relays, athird configuration having 8 binary inputs and 8 magnetically latchedrelay outputs, a fourth configuration having 8 analog inputs and a fifthconfiguration having 8 binary inputs and 8 electrically maintained relayoutputs.

Network control modules, digital control modules, and expansion modules,can be combined in various configurations to form a network control unitaccording to the invention. A network control unit (NCU) in a facilitiesmanagement system monitors and supervises heating ventilating and airconditioning (HVAC), lighting, and building functions. Network controlunits are interconnected by the N1 bus 1-9. As part of an N1 network,the NCU shares all data with all other NCUs in a dynamic data accessrelationship. A distributed system is formed because peer-to-peercommunications allow each network control unit to access and use dataacquired under the control of any other network control unit. Thus,information at any level is accessible to every NCU to integrate andoptimize all components within a building. Network control units canalso be interconnected to perform other control functions involving theuse and monitoring of diverse physical sensors and equipment, such as abroad array of industrial control processes and other processesinvolving control systems.

FIG. 4 shows one configuration of an NCU 4-1 in which five slots 4-3,4-5, 4-7, 4-9 and 4-11 are available. Slot 4-3 contains a networkcontrol module as previously discussed relative to FIG. 1. The networkcontrol module provides the sole means of communication along the highspeed N1 bus through communication terminal board 4-13. It should benoted that only a network control module can communicate on the highspeed N1 bus. Slots 4-5 through 4-11 can be occupied by digital controlmodules, expansion modules, or additional network control modules asshown. Communications between these devices and with the network controlmodule is via the N2 bus. Slots 4-5 and 4-9 can also accommodate networkcontrol modules. These network control modules may also communicate overthe N1 bus 4-15 as indicated by dotted lines 4-17 and 4-19 in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, network control unit 4-1 is provided an interface toan operator through RS-232 interface portion 1-11 of network controlmodule 1-1. Using a dial-up modem 1-13, specialized network terminal1-15 or an operator work station such as a personal computer, anoperator may generate or respond to commands and provide program changesand organizing data to user specified data bases.

The five slot NCU configuration in FIG. 4 also shows connectors 4-21 and4-23 for a plurality of input function modules and corresponding inputfunction module terminal boards 4-27 and 4-25. Similarly, connectors4-29 and 4-31 accommodate a plurality of output function modules andcorresponding output function module terminal boards 4-33 and 4-35 areprovided. It should also be noted that each individual slot 4-3 through4-11 is provided with its own power supply 4-37 through 4-45. Expansionmodule input terminal boards are provided at 4-47 and 4-49 and expansionmodule inputs/output terminal boards are provided at 4-51 and 4-53. Linevoltage is applied to the power terminal board 4-55.

An alternative configuration of a network control unit is the two slotconfiguration 5-1 shown in FIG. 5. Slots 5-3 and 5-5 can eachaccommodate an expansion module. Slot 5-3 can also accommodate a digitalcontrol module while slot 5-5 can also accommodate a network controlmodule. It should be noted that in order to constitute a network controlunit, at least one network control module is required. This is because,as previously noted, it is only a network control module which cancommunicate in a peer-to-peer relationship with other network controlunits over the N1 bus. Thus, slot 5-5 has a connection to the N1 bus5-7. Devices installed in slots 5-3 and 5-5 communicate with each otherover N2 bus 5-9. Both the N1 and N2 buses are connected tocommunications terminal board 5-11 to provide further communicationswith the remaining parts of the system.

In a manner analogous to that discussed in FIG. 4, a plurality of inputfunction modules can be located at connectors 5-13 and the plurality ofoutput function modules can be located at connectors 5-15. Inputfunction module terminal board 5-17 and a corresponding output functionmodule terminal board 5-19 are also provided. Similarly, expansionmodule input terminal board 5-21 and expansion module input/outputterminal board 5-23 provide access to the expansion module. It should befurther noted that devices in slots 5-3 and 5-5 also have independentpower supplies 5-25 and 5-27. Line voltage is provided to power terminalboard 5-29.

FIG. 6 shows a single slot configuration according to the invention.Slot 6-3 can contain a network control module in which case the deviceoperates as a network control unit with the ability to communicate on apeer-to-peer basis with other devices via the N1 bus 6-5. Communicationwith devices on the N2 bus external to the NCU 6-1 is over N2 bus 6-7.

As FIG. 6 shows, line voltage is connected to power terminal board 6-9and power supply 6-11 supplies the device in slot 6-3. FIG. 6 also showsthat device in slot 6-3 can be an expansion module. Thus, the singleslot configuration in FIG. 6 also has expansion module input terminalboard 6-13 and expansion module input/output terminal board 6-15.

As previously stated, a network control unit must have a network controlmodule in order to accomplish peer-to-peer communications over the N1bus. However, as the single slot configuration in FIG. 6 shows, it ispossible for a device to be constructed having an expansion modulewithout a network control module. Since an expansion module could notcommunicate over the N1 bus, the device can not be a network controlunit. It is possible, according to the invention, to construct in eitherthe 5 slot back plane shown in FIG. 4, the two slot back plane shown inFIG. 5 and the one slot back plane shown in FIG. 6 a device which doesnot have the capability of communicating over the N1 bus. Such devicesare called network expansion units (NEU). Network expansion units servetwo functions. First, they serve as a collection platform for I/O pointsin order to increase the point and control loop capacity of an NCU.Second, network expansion units can be remotely located from an NCU tomonitor and distribute control to points and then transfer the data fromthese points back to the NCU over the N2 bus.

Since the back planes can be used to construct either a network controlunit or a network expansion unit, alternative configurations arepossible. FIG. 7 shows fully loaded alternative configurations possiblefor network control units having 1, 2 and 5 slot back planes. FIG. 8shows fully-loaded possible configurations of network expansion unitshaving 1, 2 and 5 slot back planes.

FIG. 9 illustrates a possible configuration of a facilities managementsystem according to the invention. Five slot NCU 9-1 communicates withone slot NCU 9-3 over N1 bus 9-5. N1 bus 9-5 is also connected topersonal computer 9-7. Personal computer 9-7 can be used as a downloaddevice to download new information and data bases to NCUs 9-1 and 9-3and other devices connected to NCUs 9-1 and 9-3. N1 bus 9-5 is connectedto communication terminal board 9-9 in NCU 9-1 and terminalcommunication board 9-11 in NCU 9-3. Within NCU 9-1 N1 bus 9-13 isconnected to network control module 9-15. Since this is the only networkcontrol module shown in five slot NCU 9-1, there are no furtherconnections within the five slot NCU to the N1 bus 9-13. Five slot NCU9-1 also has expansion modules 9-17 and 9-19 and digital control modules9-21 and 9-23. These modules perform the functions discussed previouslyand are interconnected with the five slot NCU via N2 bus 9-25. Aninterface communicates directly with the five slot NCU 9-1, N1 bus 9-13and devices on its N2 bus via lap-top PC 9-27. As FIG. 9 shows, lap-top9-27 is connected to an RS-232 interface 9-29 which is part of networkcontrol module 9-15. A network terminal unit for specialized networkterminal 9-31 is also accommodated on RJ-11 interface 9-33. Networkcontrol module 9-15 also has sub-modules 9-35 and 9-37. Such sub-modulesmay include devices such as subnet controller 1-27, field truckcontroller 1-21 and RS-232 interface 1-11. Function modules, forexample, 9-41 are also used in the five slot NCU 9-1. As FIG. 9 shows,each device in the five slots has its own power supply, for example,9-43. The power supplies all receive line voltage or AC power throughpower terminal board 9-45. The individual power supplies exist toisolate spurious signals and noise in one device from being communicatedvia the power supply lines into a second device.

One slot NCU 9-3 is formed from a single network control module 9-47.Within network control module 9-47 sub-module 9-49 provides an interfaceto a personal computer 9-51 and RS-232 interface is provided to printer9-53. Network control module 9-47 communicates from network control unit9-3 over N2 bus 9-55 to fire system 9-57 and access control system 9-59.Fire system 9-57 is used to detect dangerous smoke and fire conditionsin the building and access control system 9-59 is used to providesecurity services. Such systems are known in the art and are shown toillustrate the capabilities of a facilities management system accordingto the invention.

Five slot NCU 9-1 communicates over N2 bus 9-61 with one slot expansionunit 9-63, two slot network expansion unit 9-65, application specificcontroller 9-67 and lighting controller 9-69.

One slot network expansion unit 9-63 has an expansion module 9-71 whichcommunicates with the N2 bus 9-61 via communication terminal board 9-73within the one slot NCU 9-63. Expansion module 9-71 has its own powersupply 9-75. As with expansion modules 9-19 and 9-17 in five slot NCU9-1, expansion module 9-71 may have any of the five configurationspreviously described. As previously noted, the expansion modulescondition binary, analog and pulse inputs, report changes to the networkcontroller and execute binary output commands, which command a connectedoperational unit to one of two stable states, from the networkcontroller.

Two slot network expansion unit 9-65 has expansion module 9-77 anddigital control module 9-79, each with its own power supply 9-81 and9-83, respectively. Function modules, for example, 9-85 interface withdigital control module 9-79. Both the expansion module 9-77 and thedigital control module 9-79 are connected to N2 bus 9-87 within the twoslot network expansion unit 9-65 to communication terminal board 9-87.This provides access to N2 bus 9-61 for communications with the rest ofthe sample FMS configuration shown in FIG. 9.

Specialized lighting controller 9-69 is also attached to the N2 bus 9-61in order to receive commands and provide lighting status information tofive slot network control unit 9-1. Known application specificcontrollers, for example, 9-67 can also be attached to N2 bus 9-61,according to the invention. Such application specific controllersperform dedicated tasks while communicating over N2 bus 9-61. Theoverall software structure to accommodate various network expansionunits and application specific controllers is discussed below.

FIG. 10 is an expanded view of lighting controller 9-69 in operation onthe system. FIG. 10 shows lighting controller 10-1 connected over N2 bus10-3 to network control unit 10-5 which communicates with operator workstation 10-7 over N1 bus 10-9. The lighting controller has 32 overrideswitch inputs 10-11 and forty relay outputs. Forty latching relays arepossible or 20 remote relays via a low voltage cable connect are alsopossible.

FIG. 11 further illustrates an access system such as that described atFIG. 9, 9-59. Here card access controller 11-1 communicates with networkcontrol unit 11-3 via N2 bus 11-5. To provide security, the card accesscontroller 11-1 is connected to a smart terminal interface with a reader11-7 and 8 alarm inputs 11-9. The card access controller alsoaccommodates 8 proximity readers 11-11 and communicates over RS-232interfaces to CRT display 11-13 and printer 11-15. Typically, one accesscontroller would be used for each network control unit.

FIG. 12 shows a fire system as in 9-57 operating on a facilitiesmanagement system. Network control unit 12-1 communicates with operatorwork station 12-3 and other network control units over N1 bus 12-5. N2bus 12-7 is connected to intelligent fire controller 12-9 which receivesinputs from a fire detection/signalling loop 12-11. Smart detectors, forexample, 12-13, detect smoke, thermal conditions and alarms activated atpull stations. Also connected to the fire detection signal loop 12-11 iscontrol module 12-15 which activates a signalling device. Monitor module12-17 monitors the status of pull stations 12-19, heat detectors 12-21and water flow alarm switches 12-23. Intelligent fire controller 12-9 isalso connected over an RS-485 bus 12-25 to annunciators 12-27.Similarly, intelligent fire controller 12-9 communicates over RS-232interface to CRT display 12-29 and printer 12-31. The N2 bus 12-7 canalso be connected to binary input expansion module 12-33 which itself isconnected to switch panel 12-35. The binary expansion module 12-33 andswitch panel 12-35 can operate together to form a smoke control stationwhich transmits information to network control unit 12-1 and intelligentfire controller 12-9 over N2 bus 12-7.

FIGS. 13-16 illustrate the use of various configurations according tothe invention in different size buildings. FIG. 13 shows a facilitiesmanagement system configured for a small building. This is a stand-aloneconfiguration in which the network control unit automatically controlsand optimizes heating, ventilating, air conditioning and otherelectro/mechanical building systems with directly connected input/outputpoints. Using a local I/O device 13-1, such as a network terminal, anoperator can set up a network control unit 13-3, having functions andschedules, with adjustment and override capabilities. N2 bus 13-5provides communication from the network control unit to the controlledsystem shown generally at 13-7. Such a system may have temperaturesensor 13-9, flow controller 13-11 and chiller 13-13.

FIG. 14 shows a typical configuration for a mid-sized building in whichseveral network control units, for example, 14-1, 14-3 simultaneouslymanage heating ventilating and air conditioning, and various otherelectro/mechanical systems. NCUs 14-1 and 14-3 can communicate with eachother through high speed N1 bus 14-5 and with operator work station14-7. NCU 14-3 has expanded capacity and range by implementing remotenetwork expansion units 14-9 and 14-11. This eliminates the necessity ofwiring line voltages for the separate devices back to the networkcontrol unit 14-3. Local input/output to network control unit 14-1 isprovided by local I/O device 14-13. Both network control units 14-1 and14-3 communicate with their respective control devices and networkexpansion units over an N2 bus 14-25, 14-27.

FIG. 15 shows a facilities management system configured for a largebuilding. In FIG. 15, multiple network control units 15-1, 15-3, 15-5are interconnected over the N1 bus 15-7. In addition, a plurality ofoperator workstations such as 15-9 and 15-11 are also connected to theN1 bus. For example purposes, FIG. 15 shows network control unit 15-3connected via its N2 bus 15-13 to card access controller 15-15. Cardaccess controllers were discussed relative to FIG. 11. FIG. 15 furthershows network control unit 15-5 connected over its N2 bus 15-17 to firecontroller 15-19. Fire controllers were discussed relative to FIG. 12.Network control unit 15-1 is connected over its N2 bus 15-21 to variouscontrol systems, for example, 15-23 and 15-25. In addition, localinput/output to network control unit 15-1 is provided via local I/Oterminal 15-27.

According to the invention, a facilities management system can also beconfigured for remote buildings. FIG. 16 shows such a system. As shownin FIG. 16, remote links can exist either on the N1 or the N2 bus.Operator work station 16-1 is directly connected on a N1 bus 16-3 tonetwork control unit 16-5 and network control unit 16-7. Network controlunit 16-9, however, is connected to the N1 bus 16-3 via remote links16-11. Network control unit 16-7, directly connected to operator workstation 16-1, is further connected over its N2 bus 16-13 to controller16-15 and 16-17. Similarly, NCU 16-9 is directly connected over its N2bus 16-19 to controllers 16-21 and 16-23. Local I/O to networkcontroller 16-9 is provided by local I/O terminal 16-25. In contrast,network control unit 16-5 is directly connected over an N2 bus 16-27 tocontroller 16-29 and 16-31 but is connected to controller 16-33 overremote link 16-35. Thus, according to the invention, peer-to-peercommunication over the N1 bus can be accomplished by a remote link andmaster/slave communications over the N2 bus can also be accomplished bya remote link.

According to FIG. 17, a plurality of network controllers 17-1 eachhaving a processor 17-2 and a memory 17-4 are connected by high speedbus 17-3 to form, for example, a networked Facilities Management System(FMS) 17-6. It should be noted that processor 17-2 may be centralized ordistributed to accommodate software layers in the node as discussedherein. Each network controller functions as a master control node foroperational units attached to it and incorporates several layers ofsoftware. The software levels are structured to provide increasingisolation between the software levels and the operational units. Thehighest software level is the features level 17-5. Features level 17-5implements specific functions to be performed by the network controllerin operating the facilities management system. One example of a specificfunction would be a user display tabulating or graphically showingcertain values. Features contain a control program and a list of dataobjects on which the control program operates.

Any number of high level software features can be implemented dependingupon the requirements of the system and the capabilities of the mastercontrol node. Some other examples of features performed in a facilitiesmanagement system would include trend analysis, totalization, and otherstatistical features providing measures of facilities management systemsperformance. An important factor is that the increasing level ofisolation from the hardware allows the software features to beunaffected by changes in the facilities management system hardware.

Software features at the highest level communicate with the softwareobject level 17-7. The software object level is an intermediate levelwhich determines how to carry out the action requested by one offeatures 18-21, 18-23, 18-25 at the features level 18-5. Information ispassed between the software object level 17-7 and 18-7 and the featureslevel 17-5 and 18-5 independent of differences at the lower levels ofhardware. Similarly, the software object level forms an interface withanother level of software called the hardware object level 17-9 and18-9. The hardware object level allows for a common interface to beestablished between the software object and hardware object levelsregardless of the peculiarities of operational units, such as sensorsand other data acquisition and control instruments, connected to thenetwork controller. This is accomplished by configuring the hardwareobject level to mask the differences between the operational units tothe various entities in the software object level 17-7 and 18-7. Inaccordance with requirements of local bus communications interface 17-11and 18-11, network controller 17-1 communicates over local bus 17-13with slave controllers 17-15, 17-17, and 17-19. As shown in FIG. 1, anynumber of types of slave controllers is possible. The slave controllersare connected to operational units, for example, to sensors. Suchsensors are binary or analog field sensors which read values of realworld data (e.g., outdoor air temperature).

FIG. 18 provides a more detailed illustration of the configurationdescribed in FIG. 17. The software object level contains a plurality ofsoftware object managers 18-27, 18-31, 18-35. A software object manageris a database manager which handles all requests for a particular typeof software object. An object is a named data element stored in thenetwork controller. Objects are categorized in types and each instanceof an object has its own set of data, such as object name, currentvalue, alarm limit, etc. Therefore, each software object manager isassociated with a corresponding database, 18-29, 18-33, 18-36. Oneexample of a software object manager is an analog input object manager18-27. This would be the database manager for all instances of analoginput objects, such as instances T1, T2, T3 of temperature objects T inthe following example. Another is a Binary Input Object Manager 18-31.All of the elements of the database for a given manager are objects ofthe same type. In the following example, the software objects includeanalog input points, and binary input points. Each object type may haveseveral instances, each of which has its own set of data values calledattributes. For example, the analog input objects stored in database18-29 are each an instance of a type of object. Each of these threeinstances has its own set of attributes. These attributes are data whichincludes the object name, the current value, the alarm limits, etc.

The hardware object level contains a similar plurality of hardwareobject managers 18-37, 18-41, 18-45. Each hardware object manager is adatabase manager which handles all requests for a particular type ofhardware device on the local low speed bus 17-13 connecting the networkcontroller to the slave hardware devices 17-15, 17-17, 17-19. Forexample, a slave controller type A hardware manager 18-37 is thedatabase manager for all slave controller objects of type A (A1, A2, inthe example given below). As with the software object managers, eachhardware object manager has a database 18-39, 18-43, 18-47 associatedwith it containing all objects of that type. For example, database 39for Type A hardware objects includes A1 data 18-49 and A2 data 18-51.Each object has a set of attributes unique to that particular object.

Transparency is achieved at two levels. First, software objects aretransparent to features; and second, hardware devices or operationalunits are transparent to software objects. These transparencies are bestillustrated by examples. In the first case, the transparency of softwareobjects to features, assume Feature x needs to read a current valuefield or attribute of sensor T2. This is accomplished by directing therequest from Feature x to the software object manager controlling T2. Asshown in FIG. 17, in this case T2 is controlled by the Type A slavecontroller 17-17. The analog input object manager 18-27 is responsibleto identify the data structure of T2 and return the attribute requiredby the feature, e.g. the value attribute, to Feature x. As a result,Feature x need only understand the various possible types of data thatcan be returned as single values and it does not need to know the entiredatabase structure for an analog input object.

Feature x also need not be concerned with the particular object typewhen it requests the current value of an object. Because all informationis transferred between the Features level 17-5 and 18-5 and the softwareobject level 17-7 and 18-7 in the same way, the feature need only askfor the current value of an object. Thus, the method for requesting thecurrent value of an analog input object and the value of a differenttype object, such as a binary input object, does not vary. Feature xonly sends a request for the current value attribute to the appropriateobject manager. The feature uses the object type only to determine whichsoftware object manager controls the data. The actual request issued bythe feature for the value is the same regardless of which type of objectis being queried. This avoids requiring high level software features torequest current value differently for each different object type.

An added advantage of this approach is that the feature can alwaysobtain the information the same way regardless of where the hardware islocated in the system. Because the feature only requests the object byname, the feature is insensitive to the physical location in the systemof the hardware which produces the named object. Thus, hardwaredifferences and physical location of hardware are masked out by thehardware and software object managers.

The software object database managers and the hardware object databasemanagers transfer information as previously described and shown in FIGS.17 and 18. It should be noted that this is for illustration purposesonly and that any configuration of information transferred is possibledepending upon the functions performed by the software object databasemanager and the data provided by the hardware object database manager.

Therefore, features are not concerned with the type of slave controllerhardware device to which actual sensors or data acquisition or controlinstruments are attached. When a feature requests the values of theattributes of an object, it is insensitive to the type of slavecontroller used to manage the sensor which generates the raw data. Thesoftware and hardware object levels isolate the features and present thesame set of data values the same way to all features for a given objecttype regardless of the physical slave controller to which theoperational unit is attached. Thus, the features need not be changed foreach type of slave controller.

This leads to the second level of transparency, the transparency ofhardware devices to software objects. By interposing a hardware objectmanager between the software object managers and the slave controllers,it is possible to mask the hardware differences from the softwaremanagers. This frees the software object managers' processingcapabilities in the node to perform higher level control and reportingof predefined conditions. For example, software object managers reportalarms, and notify high level features of changes to act as a triggermechanism independent of the hardware used to generate the data.

One example based on FIG. 18 occurs when Feature x 18-21 reads thevalues of analog type temperature points T1, T2, and T3. As previouslydiscussed, the feature is not concerned with the hardware and thereforemakes the same request for each temperature point to the analog inputobject manager 18-27. This is because the object requested is of theanalog type. The analog input object manager 18-27 itself is also notconcerned with the slaves on which T1, T2, and T3 are located. As far asthe Feature x, and analog input object manager 18-27 are concerned, allcommunications to the various hardware managers are the same for T1, T2,and T3.

The analog input object manager 18-27 requires a plain floating point(real) number, such as 72.3° F. from the hardware object level 17-9. Thehardware object managers 18-37 and 18-41 for slave types A and Bcondition the data to supply the analog input object manager 18-27 withvalues of the required type. In order to determine the value, any numberof individual calculations in the hardware object manager may berequired. For example, assume the value of the temperature sensorarrives at the slave controller as a count, such as a digital countproduced by an analog to digital converter, which must be spread over apredefined range to compute the floating point value. Furthermodifications may be required by a span equation, a square rootequation, and a filter before the final temperature value of the sensoris obtained.

As shown in FIG. 17, Type A slave controllers 17-15 and 17-17 deliver T1and T2 raw data. Type B slave controller delivers T3 raw data. Assumingthat controllers A and B have completely different levels of capability,the differences in the controllers would create significant problems inexisting computerized facilities management systems. For example, onecontroller may implement a square root equation while the other may not,or the controllers may have different range equations. In conventionalfacilities management systems, the high level software would be requiredto compensate for these differences. However, in the present invention,the hardware object managers for the slave controllers access the nodeprocessor (or a separate processor) to condition the data and mask thesedifferences from the analog input object manager 18-27.

Assume that Type A slave controllers 17-15 and 17-17 are highlysimplistic devices which provide only the analog digital count to thenetwork controller. In this case, the hardware object 18-37 manager fortype A slave controllers must perform the other calculations necessaryto obtain the final temperature values T1 and T2 to be provided to theanalog input object manager 18-27. In contrast, assume slave controllertype B is a highly sophisticated device which performs most of theranging and filtering prior to sending the information on to the networkcontroller. In this case, the hardware object manager 18-41 for type Bcontrollers performs relatively little processing. In either case, theprocessing performed by the hardware object manager is transparent tothe software object manager 18-27 which manipulates data and sends it tothe high level feature. This is because there is a common informationinterface between the hardware object managers 18-37 and 18-41 and theanalog input object manager 18-27. Thus, all hardware object managerscommunicate with the software object level 17-7 according to the samerules. Thus, the analog input object manager 18-27 can be written todeal with a generic object type, in this case, the analog input object.It need not contain alternative code for each single possible slavecontroller implementation of an analog input.

It should be further noted that as shown in FIG. 18, communication ispossible between all the features and all the object managers insoftware object level 18-7 and all the object managers in softwareobject level 18-7 and hardware object level 18-9. The actualcommunications paths used are a function only of the function performedby the feature and the data required. Thus, Feature y may also requestsoftware object T1, thus accessing analog input object manager 18-27.Similarly, Feature n may request data from one or more object managersin software object level 18-7 which may further request data from one ormore object managers in hardware object level 18-9. The commonality ofinterface between the hardware object and software object levelsimplifies the addition of new slave controllers and object instances.An object instance would be added in the above example if a fourthtemperature sensor T4 were to be added to the system. A new slavecontroller of the same type would be added if a third type A slavecontroller, A3, were added. In both cases, all the necessary softwareexists on the network controller because there are no changes to theinformational interfaces between the software object level 18-7 and thehardware object level 18-9. The user need only modify the database tocreate a new instance of the 18-29 analog input object T4 or thedatabase 18-39 to create another instance of type A controller object,e.g. A3, in the network controller.

It is also possible to add a new slave controller type with minimalimpact on the existing facilities management system software. Assume anew controller type, type C, is to be attached to the local bus 17-13.This would require adding (by download or other means) a new hardwareobject manager to the existing software in the network controller actingas the master control node for operational units on that local bus. Thishardware object manager would map the capabilities of the new controllerinto the software objects already defined in the system. For example,the new hardware controller may monitor analog temperature data in anunconventional manner, requiring a new hardware object manager. If thenew controller produces analog temperature data, the new hardware objectmanager can map the data into a new instance T5 of the analog inputobjects. The existing software object managers and high level featuresin the software object level 17-7 and features level 17-5 of the networkcontrol software would be unaffected, since they would operate the sameway as before. The only exception would be when the new hardwaresupports a new data type which is so different in operation from theexisting types of objects that it could not be mapped into one of theexisting software object managers at the software object level 17-7. Inthat case, a new software object might also have to be created.

Thus, the hardware object managers have again been used to mask out thedifferences in the hardware to the software objects. Thus, the softwareobject managers need not have different hardware dependent versions. Asoftware object manager handles a data element the same way, whether thedata element comes from a sensor operated under type A control oranother sensor operated under type B control. The hardware objectmanagers format or map the data into the form required by the softwareobject managers needs. This allows the software object managers toprovide a hardware independent interface to the higher level softwarefeatures.

According to another aspect of the invention, FIG. 19 illustrates that asoftware or hardware object manager provides a construct to handle datagenerated during a calculation in much the same way that data obtaineddirectly from an operational unit such as a sensor is handled. Accordingto the invention, a point is defined as a type of object. For example,an analog input point is a type of object. Therefore, the point hasattributes such as its current value, high limit, low limit, alarmstate, its hardware address, etc. These multiple dimensions to the pointdefine the point as a vector quantity. A point is always associated withan operational unit such as a sensor in the field. Thus, operationalunit 19-1 provides data to the network controller 19-3 which processesthe data in a hardware object manager 19-5 into a form required bysoftware object manager 19-7. The data corresponding to the point isstored as attributes 19-9 in a storage means, such as processor memory17-4.

Intermediate calculations at features level 19-11 sometimes require thatthe software object level 19-13 supply data which is not gathereddirectly from an operational unit. In order to facilitate a commonmethod of handling such data, pseudo points 19-15 are created at thesoftware object level 19-13. A pseudo point is handled by softwareobject manager 19-7 in exactly the same way as a point 19-9. Thedifference between a point and a pseudo point is that a point gets itsvalues from operational units while a pseudo point obtains one or moreof its attributes from an associated object. The pseudo point stores theidentity of the associated object as one of its attributes. Thus, pseudopoint 19-15 could recognize its associated object as point 19-9. In thiscase, pseudo point 19-15 could obtain one or more of its attributes fromthe attributes of point 19-9. This allows the software object manager19-7 to treat all data requests from the features level 19-11 in thesame way. Thus no distinction need be made between data obtained aspoints from operational units and other data used in intermediatecalculations which is not directly obtained from such operational units.

FIG. 20 shows network controllers 20-1, 20-3, 20-5 interconnected onhigh speed network bus 20-7. High speed network bus 20-7 is used totransmit data among the nodes into computer 20-9. Computer 20-9 furthertransfers information to storage device 20-11 which contains archiveddata bases, such as archive data base 20-13 for network controller 20-1and archive data base 20-15 for network controller 20-3.

Computer 20-9 contains generation software 20-10 which allows the userto create data elements at whatever level of data is appropriate to aspecific application and to assign names to the data elements. Since notwo elements may have the same name, the generation software checks thearchived data bases 20-13, 20-15 or online databases and verifies thateach data element is assigned its own unique name. When the name hasbeen assigned, the name and the data element are both downloaded to thehost node using high speed bus 20-7. This is shown generally in FIG. 21at generation time as reference numbers 21-20 and 21-22. As a result,the host nodes contain named data elements.

As further shown in Function Block 21-24 in FIG. 21, during run time areferencing node transmits a request for a data element by name. Asshown in Function Block 21-26, if this is a first request for the nameddata element, the entire network is searched until the data element isfound. This is shown generally in Function Block 21-28. As shown inFunction Block 21-30, if the name cannot be found anywhere on thenetwork, an error message 21-32 is transmitted and the search for thename is terminated in Block 21-38. On the other hand, if the name isfound, as shown in Function Block 21-34, the name is tagged with bindinginformation. This binding information is a node address on the networkand an internal address of the data element within the node's data base.The node address and internal address of the data element can have anyconvenient format. In accordance with Function Block 21-36, the bindinginformation and the data element itself are returned to the referencingnode which stores the binding information.

As shown in Block 21-26, if the referencing node is not making a firstrequest for the data element, control passes to Function Block 21-40where the binding information is read. Using the binding information, atBlock 21-42 the name at the location specified (host node and dataelement location) is read and compared in Block 21-44 with the namerequested. If the name found at the location specified matches the namerequested, the data is returned to the requesting node in accordancewith step 21-46 and the data acquisition routine is terminated.

However, it is possible that the name found at the specified locationdoes not match the name requested. This indicates that the bindinginformation has become out of date. Typically the verification is donein the host node. The host verifies that the data requested is still atthe same address by comparing the name passed with the name of theelement stored at the bound address. As previously noted, if they arethe same the binding is still valid and the data is returned asrequested. However, if the data element has moved, either within thehost node's data base or to another node, the host node detects themismatch between the name now stored in that location in its data baseand the name passed in the request. The referencing node is informedthat the binding information is out of date. The binding information canbecome out of date when a download, deletion, or other data basegeneration is performed on the host node, either deleting the dataelement or moving the data within the node to another location on thedata base or moving the data to a different node. Any of these eventscan happen without the referencing node being informed. When the bindinginformation is out of date, the referencing node executes a search ofthe network for the element name in accordance with step 21-28, againfollowing the steps previously described for the first request of a dataelement name. If the data element name has been deleted, an errormessage 21-32 will be returned. However, if the data element name hasbeen moved either within the node or to a different node, in accordancewith steps 21-34 and 21-36, the name will be tagged with the new bindinginformation. The new binding information and the data element will bereturned to the referencing node.

As a result of the above, the network is self healing. References whichbecome out of date are corrected the first time a reference is madeafter the change of address has occurred. Further, if a referencing nodeis downloaded before a data element it references is downloaded, anerror message is returned until the name is downloaded and then can befound. Thus, in accordance with the above invention, a search of thenetwork need only be made either the first time the data element isrequested or the first time a data element is requested after it hasbeen moved.

FIG. 22 illustrates a variation of the above described method. FIG. 22-3illustrates that after name generation 22-50 the names are downloaded atstep 22-52 to the referencing nodes. At step 22-54, the referencingnodes create a name table. The reference table can be constructed tooptimize memory usage in the node by keeping only one copy of the dataelement. All references and applications in a referencing node whichrequire the data element are then replaced by a reference table indexwhich typically requires fewer data bytes than an ASCII name. Thus, thename is kept in only one place, the reference table entry, as shown insteps 22-54 and 22-56 of FIG. 22.

It should be noted that in this method each referencing node keeps itsown name table. Thus, after step 22-58 when the referencing noderequests the data element, step 22-60 is executed to determine if thisis the first request by the referencing node. If it is the first requestby the referencing node, steps 22-62 through 22-72 in FIG. 22 would beexecuted. This would involve searching the network for the element name,if the name is found returning the binding information and the data, andplacing it in the table created in the referencing node as shown in step22-72. Errors would be treated as previously discussed.

If this is not the first request by the referencing node, then at step22-74 the location of the data element is read from the name table andthe request sent to the host. The name is then compared by the host nodewith the name at the location specified in the name table. Based on theresult of the comparison at step 22-78, the data will be returned to therequesting node or the network will be searched for the element name. Itis important to note that within the referencing node, it does notmatter in what application or feature the request for the data elementoriginates. Once the binding occurs for one reference to that element,it occurs for all references in that node to that element. This meansthat the binding needs to occur only once for all references in the nodeinstead of once for each place the reference occurs in the node. Thisreduces the time spent making initial bindings for all of the referencesby the node. It should be further noted that a separate reference tableis built for each node. Thus, if the location of the data element ischanged within the host node or to another host node, the process ofupdating the reference table will be repeated by each referencing nodethe first time that node requests the data element.

FIG. 23 shows a further optimization of the arrangement shown in FIG.22. Assuming a node has made a first request for a data element, thename of the location identified by the binding information is comparedwith the name of the data element currently being requested. In thiscase, if no match occurs, a local search is first performed at step23-82 by searching the host identified by the binding information. Thisis because it is likely that the data element will be found within thesame host. If this is the case, control passes to step 23-70 where thebinding information and data are returned to the referencing node.However, if this is not the case, the remainder of the network issearched beginning at step 23-62.

A further embodiment avoids searching the network for references to dataelements where the data element is stored in the same node as therequesting node (i.e., the host node and the referencing node are thesame node). As previously described, the reference name table mustcontain an entry for each name in the referencing node. This isnecessary even if the referencing and host nodes are the same becausethe data may at some time move from this node to another node. Thus, itis not possible to eliminate an entry from the name table in thereference node even though the referencing node is also the host nodefor the named element. However, in these situations only, it is possibleto eliminate searching the network the first time the referencing noderequests a data item for which the referencing node is also the hostnode. This is achieved by having the data base software and the hostnode add the reference table entry when the element is downloaded. Thetable entry contains the correct binding information since the host nodeowns the data element and, hence, knows the binding. When the firstreference from somewhere else on the same node occurs, the bindinginformation is already in the reference table and no additionalsearching is required. Thus, it is advantageous for a data element whichis used frequently by a reference node to be hosted on that referencenode.

FIG. 24 shows a further optimization technique using multiple levels ofnames. As illustrated, two levels of names are shown. However, thetechnique can be extended to an arbitrary depth of the naming hierarchy.Thus, small and hyphenated levels of names can be used.

At each level a directory is formed permitting access to the next higherlevel. In a two level naming scheme, each name consists of two parts--agroup name and an element name within the group. Each group is assignedto one node in the network and may have many elements within the group.A first directory or group directory, is a directory of all the groupsin the network. The directory lists the name of each group and definesthe node on which the group resides. Since the group directory must bekept on each node of the network, it is broadcast to all nodes in thenetwork. The addition or deletion of groups must also be broadcasted toall nodes in the network so that they maintain an updated copy of thegroup directory. For each group on a node, the node contains a secondlevel of directory called the element directory. The element directorylists all the elements in that group and identifies the node address ofeach element in the group. It is important to note that the elements inthe group need not reside on the node containing the group or elementdirectory, nor need all the elements and the group reside on the samenode of the network. Of course, the element directory is updatedwhenever an element is added or deleted from the group or moved from onenode to another. FIG. 24 illustrates how the directories are used. Asshown in step 24-100, it is first determined if a reference node ismaking its first request for a data element. If this is a first request,in step 24-102 the reference node compares the group name to the groupdirectory and identifies the group node. In step 24-104 if a match hasnot occurred error 24-106 is indicated and the sequence of events isterminated.

Assuming proper operation at step 24-104, a match occurs and at step24-108 the request is sent to the group node as identified in the groupdirectory. In step 24-110 at the group node, the element directory issearched to determine if the element appears in that group. Since theelement directory contains the location of the data element, if a matchoccurred at step 24-112 then at step 24-114 the group node reads thehost node address from the element directory and at step 24-116transfers the request to the host node. At step 24-118 the host nodeobtains the data and returns the binding information and the data to thereference node. Thus, the initial search for the name of the element isshortened to a search of the group directory followed by a search of theelement directory for the correct group. The entire network need not besearched. However, it should be noted that the directories must be keptup to date and that a copy of the group directory must be maintained oneach node of the network. The group's element directory need bemaintained only on the node where the group directory resides. The addedbookkeeping is only required when a group or element is added or deletedor an element is moved. This is considerably less work than downloadingall referencing nodes when such changes occur. The actual references ofthe software of the referencing nodes need not be affected.

As previously discussed, if this is not a first request for data,binding information is read and the name is compared with the name foundat the location identified by the binding information. If a match doesnot occur, then the binding information is no longer up to date and thesequence must again be executed to locate the proper information.

In one application, the above described methods can be carried out in afacilities management system. This application to a facilitiesmanagement system is by way of example and is not intended to be alimitation of the invention. In FIG. 20 several real time networkcontrollers and a personal computer used to generate data bases todownload to the network controllers are interconnected on network 20-7.Storage means 20-11, such as a disk attached to personal computer 20-9contains the data bases to be downloaded to network controllers 20-1,20-3 and 20-5. Each network controller and the personal computer can beconsidered a node. Assume NC2 is the name of a host node 20-3 and thehost node owns a data object or element called AHU1/FAN.

The system/object name is a two level naming scheme where the systemname is the same as the group name in the above description and theobject name is the name of the particular data object or element. Thisobject is the return fan for air handler #1. It is a binary outputobject because it can be controlled to one of two positions and its nameis unique on the network. The "group" or system name is AHU1 and the"element" or object is FAN. Assume also that NC1 is the name of node20-1 and is a referencing node. This means it has several softwarefeatures which need to reference the FAN object. As shown in FIG. 20Feature A needs to read the current value of the FAN object and FeatureB sends a command to the FAN object to physically start the fan. Asshown in the figures, a list of all the system names, group directories20-200, 20-202, and 20-204 is duplicated in each node. The groupdirectories identify which node contains the directory of objects for aparticular system. For the case of the AHU1 system, the directory ofobjects is maintained by NC2 node 20-3. Thus, NC2, node 20-3 alsocontains a directory of objects in the AHU1 system 20-206 and where theyare located in the data base. Similarly, the objects for the AHU2 systemare located on NC3 or node 20-5.

As previously discussed, using personal computer 20-9, the user createsa database which can be placed on archived files 20-13, 20-15 on storagedisk 20-11 and can be downloaded to network controllers 20-1, 20-3 and20-5. References, such as those from Features A and B to objectAHU1/FAN, are kept in an ASCII name form when downloaded. This isbecause they are not yet bound at the time the data base for the networkcontroller is downloaded. The referencing software features areoblivious to the actual physical location of the data object AHU1/FAN.

Upon downloading, an object is given to a data base manager whichmanages all objects of the same type. In the case of AHU1/FAN, thebinary output manager in NC2 is used. The object data base managersoftware initially enters the names into the reference name table. Forexample, when the binary output object manager is given the FAN objectat download time, it places the FAN object into its own binary outputdata base 20-2 and adds an entry in the reference table 20-300. Thisentry contains the name of the AHU1/FAN object and its bindinginformation; object type (binary output), host node address (NC2), anddata base location in the binary output data base (record 3). In thisexample, the table entry is located at offset 16 as shown in FIG. 20.Note that no other nodes besides NC2 know the binding information atthis time. These nodes still only have a name reference to AHU1/FAN. Thedirectory of objects and AHU1 will later also point to the referencetable for the FAN object so that later lookups of the name will find itin the proper place. Data base for the referencing node 20-1, NC1, isalso downloaded. This causes entries to be made in the reference tablefor NC1. When the data base for Feature A is downloaded, an entry ismade into the reference table for AHU1/FAN but without the bindinginformation. This "unbound" reference simply shows that some feature inNC1 will be referencing FAN. When the data base for high level softwareFeature B is downloaded, it will also try to add the unbound referenceto the table and find that it is already there (at offset 27 in thereference table 20-302). Both features will then replace the namedreference to AHU1/FAN with the offset of 27 into the table. Note that atthis point in time the binding information is still not in the table inNC1.

Execution of high level software Feature A in NC1 requires reading thevalue of FAN object. Since the binding is not yet in the reference tablein NC1 for AHU1/FAN, the software must locate AHU1/FAN on the network.This requires searching the system name list or group directory in NC1for the system name AHU1. As shown in FIG. 20, the list shows that AHU1is located on NC2. Thus, the software directs the request to NC2. NC2locates the object in its data base using the element directory. This isaccomplished by looking up FAN in the directory of objects in AHU1. Inthe example shown in FIG. 20, this is a binary output point located atoffset 16 in the reference table in NC2. The reference table of NC2already has the binding information added for FAN, since thisinformation was put there at download time, as described above. Hence,the software can send the request to the correct data base manager(binary output) object manager on this node and request the correctrecord, which is record 3.

Once the data is obtained, the information is passed back to Feature Aand NC1 along with the binding information. At that time, the referencetable entry for FAN is completed in node NC1 with the correct bindinginformation.

FIG. 20 also illustrates that for references in the host node, such asfrom Feature C in NC2, the binding information is already in thereference table after the data base is downloaded. Thus, the bindingprocedure is not required for those references, even the first time thereference is accessed.

Since the binding information has been provided to network controllerNC1, subsequent references from network controller NC1 need not repeatthe above procedure. Assuming Feature B needs to reference FAN, it usesthe stored offset of 27 to find FAN in the reference table. This timethe binding information is already in the table. Thus, the softwarecould send a request directly to the binary output data base manager onnode NC2 and request record 3. The look-up procedure described above isno longer required. Any other features on NC1 that subsequentlyreference FAN will use the same bound reference in the table, so thebinding is only required once for all references from NC1. As previouslydiscussed, the reference table reduces memory requirements since thelonger ASCII name is replaced by a short table offset in each softwarefeature and since only one table entry is required for all referencesfrom that same node.

FIG. 25 illustrates the sequence of events when a data element moveswithin a node. Assume that FAN moves within the data base of NC2 fromrecord 3 to record 5. This could occur, for example, as a result of adata base regeneration on the personal computer so that record 3 is nowan object called AHU1/PUMP while AHU1/FAN has been moved to record 5.The binding information used by network controller 25-1 to go directlyto the binary output data base manager on network controller 25-2 wouldcause a request for record 3. However, the request also sends the nameof AHU1/FAN so that it can be compared with the name found at record 3.In this case, the records no longer match.

Using one of the optimizations described earlier, the binary output database manager searches its own data base to see if it still has theobject AHU1/FAN. In this case it is found at record 5, so theinformation requested is returned along with the new correct bindinginformation. NC1 sees that the binding it was using has been correctedby NC2 and updates its reference table by replacing the reference torecord 3 with record 5.

Thus, the object has moved within network controller NC2, but networkcontroller NC1 was still able to find the data without any changes tothe network controller NC1. Furthermore, all references in networkcontroller 25-1 are corrected, since the common reference table entry isupdated.

FIG. 26 illustrates the situation when, as a result of a download, adata object has been moved to a different network controller. In thiscase, the user has generated a data base for NC2 and NC3 moving thesystem or "group" name AHU1 and its objects to NC3. Now, FAN is record 7in the binary output data base on network controller NC3 (node 5). Here,a network controller NC1 which attempts to reference FAN using thebinding information it already has fails. This is because the namecomparison at network controller NC2, record 3 shows that the AHU1/FANdata object is no longer at that address. Moreover, a check of theremaining elements in the NC2 data base shows that FAN cannot be found.Thus, Feature A in the network controller 1 receives an error message.

Network controller 26-1 responds by erasing the binding information fromits table and following the method discussed above to find the newlocation of AHU1/FAN.

In this case it would be found on network controller 3 at record 7.Doing this once corrects all references in network controller NC1, sincethe common reference table is updated.

It should be noted that had the data element been completely deletedfrom the network, network controller NC1 would have reported itsinability to find FAN via an advisory message to an operator. This isalso true for all references to FAN from NC1 until FAN is downloadedagain. Thus, an error occurs until AHU1/FAN is redefined, or thereference is removed. However, after the download the references willbind and begin to work properly. Hence, the order of node download isnot critical.

In order to provide proper time synchronization among nodesinterconnected on an N1 bus, it is necessary for one of the nodes toplay a limited system manager role. As shown in FIG. 27, a node 27-1 isselected as a time synchronizer (a limited system manager) and at 27-2the node defines the time and transmits this information to the othernodes interconnected on the N1 bus. Shown in 27-3, the nodes monitor thetime during the non-update interval. Decision block 27-4 tests a clockto determine if it is currently the time for which resynchronization hasbeen set. If not, control is transferred back to 27-3 and timemonitoring continues. If it is determined in decision block 27-4 that itis now time to reestablish synchronization of time among the nodes, inblock 27-5 the node tests to determine if it is the system time manager.If so, control is transferred to block 27-2 and the system time managertransmits the current time. If in decision block 27-5 the noderecognizes it is not the system manager, in block 27-6 the nodedetermines if it has received the time synchronization data. If so, thenode resets its time in block 27-7 and time monitoring continues as inblock 27-3. If the time synchronization data is not received at block27-6, the node in block 27-8 determines if it can be the system timemanager and, if so, transmits the time as in block 27-2. This allows anew node to assume the time synchronization responsibility if theoriginal system time manager fails or goes off line.

In addition to synchronizing time among the nodes, it is also necessaryto synchronize global data. FIG. 28 shows the fundamental steps in thedownload. In function block 28-1 a global data base is defined andloaded onto the network. A global data base can include such items aspasswords, a list of system names (although not object names), a list ofnodes and printers on the system, report groups which indicate whereuser advisory messages of certain classifications are to be directed,and other information which would be useful to all the nodes. Functionblock 28-3 shows that each node also has a data base defined for it inan archive device. The node data base includes data to be stored in thenode and additional data to be transmitted along the N2 bus to otherdevices controlled by the node. In function block 28-5, a node isconfigured on a network by giving it an N1 address and storing theidentity of its archive device in non-volatile memory. Followingpower-up at step 28-7, the node must be synchronized with the othernodes at step 28-9. Step 28-11 tests if the synchronization is complete.If not, control is transferred back to function block 28-9 to completethe synchronization process. Upon completion of node synchronization,control transfers to function block 28-13 in which the node accesses thearchive device to download its own particular data base. As each dataelement is received, decision block 28-15 tests if the information is tobe transmitted to a device on the N2 bus. If not, the information isstored in the node as shown in function block 28-17. If the informationis destined for a device on the N2 network, as shown in function block28-19 the information is passed onto the device through the N2 network.

FIG. 29 further illustrates how synchronization takes place. Upon powerup, a node executes code in electronically programmable read only memoryto identify the node's archive device defined in the non-volatile memorysection of the node. This is shown in function block 29-1. As shown infunction block 29-3, the node then requests the archive device todownload the code into its random access memory. At decision block 29-5,the node joining the network tests to see if it has received a broadcastfrom another node on the network. According to the invention, the nodeson the network all periodically broadcast a time stamp indicating thelatest version of the global data base in that node. Thus, if a nodejoining a network has not yet received a broadcast time stamp as shownin decision block 29-5, the node waits until it does receive one. Uponreceipt of the first broadcast time stamp, the node entering the networkrequests the global data from the node associated with the time stamp,as shown in function block 29-7. In addition, the new node stores thetime it received with the global data base information as its timestamp. Subsequently, in function block 29-9, the node accesses thearchive device to obtain its own particular data base, as previouslydiscussed. After receiving its data base, the new node joins the othersin the network in broadcasting its time stamp, as shown in functionblock 29-11. Synchronization of the data bases is maintained byreceiving time stamps from other nodes as shown in function block 29-13.In the event that the time stamp received is later than the time stampcurrently in the node, the node requests the global data from the nodewith a later time stamp, as shown in function blocks 29-15 and 29-17. Itshould also be noted, that it is possible for a node to become hung upwaiting for global data which is not available. Thus waiting step 29-19is tested against time expiration decision point 29-21. If a time hasexpired, then to avoid suspending operation of the node, the nodeaccesses the archive device for the global data as shown in step 29-23.

An alternative approach allows a node joining a network to avoid waitingfor receipt of its first time stamp, as described above. According tothis alternative, the node joining the network first accesses thearchive device for the global data and records the time stamp of theglobal data on the archive device as its time stamp. The node then joinsthe network, periodically transmitting its time stamp and examining timestamps of other nodes as described above.

A similar approach is used with slave devices controlled by nodes on theN2 network. Every time an N2 device comes on line, it reports its database revision level as a time stamp to its network controller. If thenetwork controller has a new data base as indicated by its own timestamp, it downloads that information, which is some portion of the database, to the device coming on line on the N2 network. If the networkcontroller does not have a more recent data base than that indicated bythe time stamp of the device operating on the N2 network, the networkcontroller assumes that the N2 device has the correct data base.

FIG. 30 shows an approach to downloading information into a devicewithout a routing table. The approach consists of cascading devices sothat a path to a device without a routing table can be establishedthrough other devices which have routing tables. This is particularlyuseful in cases where it is not desirable to require personnel to go toan actual site of a device to physically download or upload a device'sdata base. According to the invention, each requesting networkcontroller maintains at a minimum in non-volatile memory the address ofits archiving device. In addition, each network controller maintains innon-volatile memory the address of a network controller that willinitiate a download on its behalf. This is called the NC initiator. TheNC initiator must be initialized in a consistent state before it canfacilitate a download/upload request from another node. Thus, acascading mechanism is employed whereby nodes above in the hierarchy areinitialized before nodes lower in the hierarchy are initialized.

Two cases are possible. In FIG. 30, download device 30-1 could initiatethe download with network controller 3, shown as node 30-4 which doesnot have a routing table. Table 1 of FIG. 31 shows the sequence of stepswhich are implemented by the network control layer of the archivingdevice or PC. It should be noted that each node is given an addressdefining its network, a local address on the network, and a port of thenode. The node itself is assigned port 0. Thus, download device 30-1 hasaddress 1:1:0. This is because the device is on network 1, local address1, and because a device itself is defined as port 0. As Table 1 at FIG.31 shows, the source of the message is 1:1:0, its destination is 2:4:0.An interim source of the message as it navigates the network is alsoshown. For the originator, the source and interim source are defined tobe the same. Thus, the first interim source is 1:1:0. The remaininginterim source entries in the table in FIG. 31 have the same network andlocal address as the preceding entry. A routing defined in a networklayer such as that of the Open Systems Interconnection model ofInternational Standards Organization of the node routes the message toNC1 which is network 1, local address 2, port 0. Tracing the stepsthrough the table shows that by routing the message first through NC1and then NC2 the download information eventually arrives at NC3. NC3replies to the source acknowledging the receipt of the message. Sincethe receiving device does not have a routing table, it replies to thenode from which it received the message. From there, the acknowledgementcould be routed over the same path as the message transmission inreverse direction or over any other convenient path defined by the nodeshaving routing tables.

In the second case, network controller 3 initiates the download requestto the archive PC 30-1. In this case, node NC3 located at address 2:4:0does not have a routing table to use for sending its download request.However, as previously mentioned NC3 maintains in non-volatile memory anaddress of a network controller that will initiate a download on itsbehalf. Thus, NC3 routes its request to this NC initiator. NC3 requeststhe download from the data download device at address 1:1:0, which isidentified in NC3 as its archiving device. The route taken by therequest, as shown in Table 2 in FIG. 32, assumes that NC2 at address2:3:0 is the NC initiator for NC3. NC2 must already contain a routingtable to send the message to the archive device. This illustrates thatby cascading the devices the message can be received by the archivingPC. It should be noted that this creates a hierarchy of nodes such thata higher level node, such as NC2, must be fully functional before alower order node, such as NC3 can be downloaded. Similarly if anothernode named NC3 as its NC initiator downloads to that other node couldnot take place until NC3 completed its download through its initiator,NC2.

When downloads occur problems can result from objects whose systemdefinition lies on a different NC than the object resides on. This isbecause two NCs cannot always be guaranteed to have mutually consistentdata bases. These inconsistencies can not be automatically corrected,since they will naturally arise when several NCs have been affectedwhose definitions interlace. While these NCs are being updated(downloaded) there will necessarily be a time period during whichinconsistencies cannot be avoided. However, all problem cases can bedetected and reported to the user.

When one NC is downloaded the others may be temporarily inconsistentwith it. If this condition persists, or if the system attempts to accessobjects on either NC during this period of time, errors or ambiguitiescan occur.

The following example demonstrates problems which can arise when anobject is moved from one NC to another. Other scenarios could beconstructed but the data base inconsistencies resulting would be thesame. The following assumptions are made:

a. NC1 contains the directory for system S.

b. NC2 contains the original version of an object O.

c. NC3 contains the new version of the same object O.

The normal case is to add object O to the data base for NC3 and deleteit from NC2. This can be done either through template generation (singleobject changes) or via DDL (data definition language). In either caseinconsistencies can occur.

Assume DDL is used for this change. Then three NC DDL files need to beupdated (NCs 1, 2, and 3) in order to complete the transaction. Each ofthe NCs must then be downloaded. However, one or more of the downloadscould be skipped or an old data base incorrectly downloaded, resultingin inconsistent NCs in the field. Similar problems can occur if atemplate generation change fails or is cut off in the middle for somereason. The following cases demonstrate the inconsistencies which canarise.

Assume that, after the above changes have been made, NC1 is downloadedfirst. Then the system directory for S will indicate that object Oshould reside on NC3. Until NC3 is downloaded (if it ever is!) object Ocan not be found, since the directory says it should be on NC3. This isthe first problem case--a directory pointing to an object which is notthere. Note that bound references will continue to use the old object Oin NC2 for now. New bindings can not be accomplished since the directoryis needed for new bindings and it points to a non-existent object.Further assume that NC2 is downloaded next. This creates the sameproblem as above with the additional problem that even old bindings willfail, since the old version of object O is now deleted. Until NC3 isdownloaded the object does not exist.

Now suppose NC2 is downloaded first. This is again the same problem,since the old directory for S still points to NC2 which no longercontains the object. Current bindings become invalid and new bindingscan not be made. After NC2 is downloaded, further assume NC1 isdownloaded second. Same problem again occurs, since the directory pointsto NC3 which has not been downloaded with the new object yet and the oldobject is gone.

Now assume NC3 is downloaded first. As a result of this download, thereare two copies of object O in the field. This demonstrates a secondproblem which can arise--duplicate objects with the same name inmultiple NCs. Old name bindings previously discussed will continue touse the old version of O in NC2. New bindings will also go to NC2 sincethe directory is still not updated. Until NC1 is downloaded, the newversion of O is inaccessible. This is referred to as an "orphanobject"--it cannot be accessed, since its name is in no directory. Thereis no way for the user to examine, change, or even delete this versionof the object. This demonstrates that a third problem can arise. AfterNC3 is downloaded, further assume NC1 is downloaded. Now there are stillduplicate objects O but features can be bound to BOTH copies of O. Oldbindings to O are still valid, since the object can still be found onNC2 but new bindings will go to NC3 since the new object is in thedirectory. Thus, for example, event triggers which cause high levelfeatures to refocus certain tasks, as discussed below, could besigned-up and received from both copies at the same time. If the objecttype of O has not changed, then both triggers will be considered validby the receiving task. This is a variation of problem two (duplicateobjects)--now binding can be made to both versions. Other scenariosresult in the same problems. That is, downloading NC2 then NC3 or viceversa results in a directory in NC1 pointing to a non-existent object inNC2 and an orphan object in NC3.

In summary, then, the following problems can occur after downloading:

a. A directory in a node can point to a non-existent object.

b. Orphan objects cannot be accessed or removed--no directory points tothe object; and

c. Duplicate objects can occur and binding can be to either copy of theobject.

These downloading problems can not be automatically corrected, since thesoftware can not know where in the order of download the user is--i.e.,it can not determine what the NC data bases should look like now or whenthe downloads are completed. However, the problem can be detected andthe operator alerted as follows.

Assume the following definitions:

Directory NC--the NC or node containing the directory for system S.

Object NC--the NC or node containing an object in system S.

"Here I am" message--a message which is sent by an object to itsdirectory NC signifying that the object exists, where it is found andits type.

"Are you there" message--a message which is sent by a directory to oneof its objects requesting the object respond (to determine if the objectis on the correct NC and is the correct type).

Since inconsistencies normally arise out of download, the followingscenarios would catch the above errors as they are introduced. Theobject NC sees its directory NC come online--in this case the NCs couldbe out of synch, since one could have had changes made while the otherwas off-line. Thus, it is necessary to resynchronize the directories.This is done by each object whose directory is in the NC which cameonline (as defined by the global system directory data base) sending a"Here I am" message to its directory NC. This catches two of theproblems. First, it catches orphan objects, since the directory NC willnot find the object in its directory. It can then report an error to theuser. Second, it catches duplicate objects since both try to report tothe same directory. However, one must be an orphan since the directorycan only point to one of them at a time. Again an error can be sent bythe directory manager of the directory NC to the user. A check couldalso be made on the object type to guarantee that the object reportingin is the proper object type as determined by the directory.

In a second case, the directory NC sees the object NC come online. Inthis case sending an "Are you there" message from the directory to itsobjects checks for the existence of the objects. This catches the errorsin which a directory points to a non-existent object, since the objectdoes not respond if it is not there. Again, object types could also becross-checked.

In a third case, the directory NC sees the object NC (or vice versa) gooff-line. Little can be done here until communications between the twocan be established.

In a fourth case, the object NC sees the directory NC downloaded. Thisis treated the same as the online case. The objects send the "here I am"message to determine if the download changed anything.

In a fifth case, the directory NC sees the object NC downloaded. This isthe same as the second case. The "Are you there" message is sent todetermine if the object is still there.

In summary, the "Here I am" message is used to catch duplicate andorphan objects at those times when the relationship between thedirectory and object NC may or may not be used. The "Are you there"message catches non-existent objects, since these will be caught by thereferences when they occur.

A directory manager task in the node is responsible for performing bothhalves of the solution. The directory manager task maintains a ReferenceIdentification (RID) table. Thus, it knows all objects that are definedon the NC and can run through this list when a directory NC comesonline, etc. It sends the "Here I am" messages for all objects whosesystem is on that other NC. If necessary, it can run through thedirectories it owns and send the "Are you there" messages to all objectsdefined to reside on that other NC.

In addition, the directory manager receives both of these messages onthe other end. The "here I am" is sent to the directory manager whichchecks its directory to ensure that the object is supposed to be whereit is. The "Are you there" message also goes to the directory manager ofthe object NC who looks in the RID table for that object.

This linkage checking need only be done when the system and object lieon different NCs. The inconsistencies are not possible within a singleNC. If they exist, it is due to a template generation transaction whichwas interrupted. In that case, the user can be made aware that a problemexists, since an error can be issued at the time the transaction wasinterrupted.

The way in which one NC sees that another is online, downloaded, etc. isdone the same as for trigger handling. The node status message is sentto the node manager which distributes it to the directory manager afterwhich the above processing can occur.

Error messages are inevitable when a point and its system are ondifferent NCs, since one NC must be downloaded before the other. Thiswill happen even if the user conscientiously downloads all the affectedNCs. However, the number of such cases (split object and directory)typically is few and this will most likely occur only when an object ismoved from one NC to another.

In a facilities management system, it is preferable to replace pollingtype applications where a needed data value is repeatedly read at someinterval with an event based scheme which only executes an algorithmwhen a value changes. This requires recognizing when data has changedand associating the change of data with a triggerable object or feature.In a distributed environment, it must be recognized that the owner anduser of the data may be in separate nodes or processors, as data basesmay be changed independently of each other. Introducing a sign-upmechanism allows a feature needing specific data to request the nodecontaining the specific data or data element to inform the featurewhenever the specific data or data element changes. As a result, pollingis no longer required. However, in a distributed environment, a nodecontaining the specified data may experience a download of a new database resulting in a loss of the sign-up request. The same problem occursif the data moves from one network node to another. Thus, if a node isupdated by data base generation or download, the signing up feature mustbe informed. As previously discussed, each node periodically transmits atime stamp indicating its most recent data. Thus, if a node has beendetected to go off line or to have been downloaded with new data, thesign-up feature will invalidate its sign-up and attempt a new sign-upwith the new data base. If this is not possible, the binding schemepreviously discussed allows the signing up feature to determine wherethe data has now been located. If the data is no longer available, ofcourse, sign-ups are not possible.

It should be noted that trigger sign-ups can be used to drive severalfeatures including event totalization or a customized feature programmedby the user. Similarly, sign-ups could also be used to drive therefreshing of person machine interface screens rather than intervalrefreshing of such screens. This would allow immediate notification to auser of changes in the state of the variable or data.

FIG. 33 illustrates the process. As shown in block 33-1 features sign upfor triggering by objects which are named data elements in the system.In block 33-2, a processor in the node checks if the object is presenton the network. As shown in block 33-3 if not, the feature beginsmonitoring the network to determine if a new network controller (NC)becomes added. When a new NC is detected as shown in block 33-4, thefeature checks the new NC for the triggerable object and repeats theprocessing in block 33-2.

When a feature determines the object is present, then the feature teststo determine if new data was downloaded with the object in an NC, asshown in block 33-5. If this is the case, the feature repeats its signup in block 33-1. Otherwise, as shown in block 33-6 the feature monitorsthe triggerable attribute of the object. Block 33-7 shows that changesto the attribute's status sends a trigger to the feature (block 33-8).Whether or not the feature receives the trigger, the feature repeatsprocessing beginning at block 33-5. This allows the feature to recognizedownloads of new data to the node having the object so that it can againsign up to be triggered. By repeating step 33-2, the feature can pick uptriggerable objects which have been relocated in the network.

According to the invention, global data in the network controllersidentify the destinations of various reports created during systemprocessing. A system produces several types of reports with unique listsof targets. For example, reports can be of the critical type (1-4)maintenance (follow-up), and status. In addition, point history reports,totalization reports, trend reports, and transaction log or tracereports are created. Another requirement is that all critical typereports in a facilities management system be preserved until deliveredto at least one of the targets defined for the report type. In order tofacilitate report routing, all reports emanating from a given node arerouted to a specially designed report router task for ultimatedistribution to various hard copy devices, computer files, and otherstorage devices. As shown in FIG. 34, if point 34-1 changes, a messageis sent to report router 34-3 in network controller 34-5. Report router34-3 determines that the message should be sent to its preferreddestination, printer 34-7, which is under the control of networkcontroller 34-9. This is accomplished by report router 34-3 sending thechange of state information to I/O task 34-11. Report router 34-3 alsokeeps a copy of the message. If printer 34-7 prints the message,notification is sent back to report router 34-3 and the copy is deleted.

On the other hand, if printer 34-7 is off-line or for some other reasoncannot print the message, I/O task 34-11 notifies report router 34-13,which is the report router available in the same network controller asthe destination printer. If report router 34-13 is unable to locate adefault device, the message is discarded. Report router 34-3 receives nomessage from report routers 34-9 or 34-13 and therefore report router34-3 indicates that the information has not been stored or printed bynot indicating a change of state. The report router 34-3 then maintainsits copy of the message.

On the other hand, if report router 34-13 locates a default device, suchas printer 34-15 connected to network controller 34-17 to report router34-19, report router 34-13 routes the message to I/O task 34-21 fortransmission to printer 34-15.

If the default device also does not operate, the message is discardedand no message is returned to report router 34-3 indicating that thereport has been neither printed nor stored. Report router 34-3 thenkeeps a copy of the message in its save file.

If a printer comes on-line, all report routers are notified. If the savefile contains a message, the message is routed to the specified deviceagain. Should the save file be filled, the lowest priority and oldestmessage is removed from the save file and an error is logged on thesystem.

FIGS. 35 and 36 illustrate distributed filter processing for generatingreport summaries. Report summaries are generated based on an object nameand certain selection criteria. One approach is to have the remotedevice which is to receive the summary retrieve each object directoryand then retrieve a record for each object identified in the directory.The remote device then keeps only those records which meet the criteriafor the summary. However, this would require a significant amount ofprocessing and communication among nodes. Thus, localized filtering ofthe data at the node at which the particular object directory ofinterest is located is desirable.

As shown in FIG. 35, feature 35-1 and node 35-3 may require transmittinga data summary to PC 35-5. However, the objects required to constructthe summary may be scattered throughout the system. The object directoryis directory 35-7 located in NC2, shown at 35-9. As shown in FIG. 36,feature 35-1 generates a directive specifying an object name andselection criteria in function block 36-1. In function block 36-3, theobject directory 35-7 is located in network controller 2 shown at 35-9.At step 36-5, the object directory is read from the node location andthe number of records and attributes with the same system and objectname are recorded. Using the object directory 35-7 the objects areretrieved from network control nodes in NC1, NC2, NC3, and NC4. When theobjects are retrieved in step 36-7 the selection criteria included inthe directive generated in step 36-1 are applied. As indicated in step36-11, if the criteria is not met, the element is discarded, while ifthe criteria is met in the function block 36-13 the attribute is storedin the message buffer. Decision block 36-15 tests whether all theattributes have been evaluated. If not, the selection criteria isapplied to the next attribute. If all the attributes have beenevaluated, a message is generated to send a single message to therequesting node 35-1 in the form of a message block with the attributesrequested.

For purposes of illustration, system 1 in FIG. 37 can be a facilitiesmanagement system (FMS) having nodes 37-3, 37-5, 37-9 and 37-11 whichfunction as network controllers to process data related to building andindustrial, environmental, security and other automated system controls.As illustrative node 37-3 shows, each such node or network controllerhas at least one processor 37-2, a memory 37-6, and equipment interfacecircuits 37-8. Such equipment interface circuits may accommodatenumerous equipment interconnection arrangements, including, but notlimited to, interfaces which use direct and secondary communicationslinks to the node. In operation, network controller 37-3 could bemonitoring measurements from air flow sensor 37-10 and temperaturesensor 37-12 and in response opening and closing dampers 37-14. It isunderstood, however, that nothing limits the application of thisinvention to such FMS systems and that numerous types of networkedsystems can benefit from this invention.

In the system 37-1, network controllers 37-3 and 37-5 are connected by afirst communications link 37-4. The first communication link 37-4 isconnected via gateway 37-7 to a second communication link 37-17 havingnetwork controllers 37-9 and 37-11 attached. The nodes attached tocommunications links 37-4 and 37-17 can be considered to form individualnetworks. The number of nodes or network controllers on a network andthe number of networks interconnected by gateways on a system is afunction of systems requirements and capabilities. It is understood thatthe principles of the present invention apply to any number of nodes ornetwork controllers on any number of communication links and are notlimited in this respect.

According to a routing convention in FIG. 37, each node is identified bya network address. The elements of a network address include at leastthree fields: first, an identifier of the communication link called asubnet, and second, a local address of the node on the communicationslink or subnet. For example, node 37-9 is at subnet 2 local address 1.The third field of the network address is the port number of the nodefrom which a device is dropped, called the Drop ID. As illustrated inFIG. 37, each individual configured node itself is Drop ID 0.Non-configured devices, such as lap-top computers or other dataprocessing devices, can be connected or dropped to numbered ports of thenode. Here it is again understood that the present inventionaccommodates any number of node ports and introduces no limit on suchnode port capabilities. A port of non-configured lap-top computer 37-13can be connected to a port from a node, such as node 37-3 and assigned anetwork address. For example, if port 2 of non-configured lap-topcomputer 37-13 is connected to port 3 (Drop ID 3) of node 3 which is atsubnet 1, local address 1, the network address of lap-top 37-13 is 1:1:3as shown in FIG. 37. It should be noted that the port of lap-topcomputer 37-13 is not part of the network address. FIG. 37 furtherillustrates that another lap-top computer 37-15 can be part of thenetwork as originally configured. According to the naming convention,such devices are identified as additional nodes on additional subnets,in this case, subnet 3, local address 1, Drop ID 0.

Finally, for convenience the naming convention allows further appendingan identifier of a process in the device, although this is not required.The only requirement is that the subnet, local address and the Drop IDbe included in the fields of the network address. Such processidentifiers identify the process in the device which is the source ofthe message and which will usually receive the response, and the processin the device which is the destination of the message and which willusually generate the response. It should be further understood thatnodes or network controllers can be organized into any combination ofprocessing layers such as network and data link layers from the opensystem interconnection architecture of the International StandardsOrganization or any other convenient architecture, as illustrated inFIG. 38.

According to the invention, when a non-configured device is attached toa port of a configured node, the non-configured device establishes itspresence on the port. When receiving messages from other configurednodes the configured node first determines from the subnet and localaddress destination portions of the message if it is the destinationnode. If not, the message is passed on to the next proper configurednode defined by the route. At the destination, the configured nodeevaluates the Drop ID of the received messages to determine if themessage is for itself (Drop ID 0) or for the attached non-configureddevice (non-zero Drop ID).

FIG. 39 illustrates the generation and transmission of a message by aprocess on non-configured lap-top 37-13 which seeks to communicate overthe network with another device. To initiate the communication requestshown in block 39-301 an initialization phase first takes place in whichthe non-configured device establishes its location on the network.Non-configured device 37-13 sends a message requesting the address ofthe node or FMS network controller to which it is attached, in this casenode 3. The node or FMS network controller responds by activating aninitialization task which sends the network address including thesubnet, local address and Drop ID back to the non-configured device. Thenon-configured device then stores this information as its networkaddress.

In function block 39-303 the non-configured device accesses this addressand uses it as the source address portion of messages it generates.These messages include both the source address and destination addressand data or data requests to be transmitted. For illustration, assumethat non-configured lap-top 37-13 has requested data concerning thestatus of a damper 37-16 recorded in configured lap-top 37-15. Infunction block 39-305 the processor in the node transmitting the messagedetermines if the request is for a process remotely located in anothernode or for a local process in this node. If not, as shown in functionblock 39-307, the request is delivered to the local process and exit39-309 is taken. If the request is for a process in another node,function block 39-311 determines if the source and destination networkaddresses are valid. This requires that network processing layer 38-201in the node verify that the subnet, the local address of the node ornetwork controller on the subnet, the Drop ID and the process identifierare valid. If not, error processing 39-313 begins and exit 39-309 istaken. If the network addresses are valid, the network layer 38-201 inthe first node references a routing table stored in a memory 37-6 todetermine the next hop in the path. As previously discussed, suchrouting tables may be static or dynamic, centralized or decentralized.For illustrative purposes only and not as a limitation of the invention,a static routing table is assumed. The request is then tagged with thenetwork address of the transmitting node for acknowledgement by the nextintermediate destination in the data link layer 38-203 of the node, asshown in function block 39-317. Transmission of the request then takesplace in function block 39-319.

As discussed above, FIG. 39 illustrates the activities involvedfollowing a request from a non-configured device to communicate over thenetwork. The same processing takes place when a node or networkcontroller transmits a response from a configured device. Thus, by usingthe same processing that takes place when a network controller or nodetransmits a response from a configured device, a request by anon-configured device to communicate over the network can beaccommodated.

FIGS. 37 and 38 and the table in FIG. 41 show further detail in routingthe request from the non-configured lap-top source 37-13 to theconfigured lap-top destination 37-15. Non-configured lap-top source1:1:3:PIDX identifies a process on subnet 1, local address 1, Drop ID 3identified as PIDX. The message from non-configured lap-top 37-13 alsoidentifies the destination as subnet 3, local address 1, Drop ID 0,process PIDY. Thus, the first routing, which would not be defined in arouting table at configuration time, is from 1:1:3:PIDX to 1:1:0. Thisrepresents the path between the non-configured lap-top 37-13 and thenode or network controller 37-3. The static routing tables which weredefined at configuration provide the routing from node or networkcontroller 37-3, network address 1:1:0, to configured lap-top 37-15,network address 3:1:0. As shown in FIGS. 37, 39, and 41 the next stopfrom node 37-3 identified in the static routing table is to the network1 side of gateway 37-7 which is defined as subnet 1, local addresslocation 4, Drop ID 0. The routing table in gateway 37-7 directs thisrequest to the output of the gateway at subnet 2, local address 4 DropID 0. The routing table at the gateway determines that the efficientroute for this request is directly to node 37-11 defined as subnet 2,local address 2, Drop ID 0. Node 37-11 has its own routing table whichroutes the message off port 3 to an address defined as subnet 3, localaddress 1, Drop ID 0. The message is then routed to the processidentified as PIDY.

FIG. 38 illustrates the activities that take place in the network anddata link layers at each intermediate stage of the process. Aspreviously discussed, the intermediate receivers and senders of messagesare determined by the entries in the static or dynamic routing tables inmemory at each node. In the intermediate stages, a message is receivedand an acknowledge signal is transmitted by the data link layer 38-203of the receiving configured node to the intermediate node whichforwarded the message. The network layer 38-201 determines if thedestination for the message is this configured node or some otherconfigured node and finds the appropriate next intermediate destinationfrom the routing table. The data link layer 38-203 retags the messagefor acknowledgement by the next intermediate stage and then transmitsthe message to the next intermediate destination identified by thenetwork layer 38-201.

FIG. 40 illustrates the activities of any given node which take placeupon receipt of a request from a non-configured device. These activitiesare the same as those that take place upon the receipt of a responsefrom a configured device. Thus, the same approach for handling receiptof responses from configured devices can be used to respond to a requestfrom a non-configured device. As previously discussed, messages fromconfigured nodes are tagged by the forwarding node so that receipt canbe acknowledged. As shown in FIG. 40, in function block 40-403 themessage is first evaluated to determine if the tagged message is from avalid source to a valid destination and whether the message isappropriately tagged, as previously discussed relative to FIG. 39. Ifnot, as shown in function block 40-405, the message is discarded and anexit 40-407 is taken. In addition, other known tag functions forreliability such as sliding windows, can be performed. If the processingin the data link layer 38-203 in function block 40-403 identifies themessage as valid, function block 40-409, also a part of the data linklayer 38-203, transmits an acknowledgement of receipt of the message tothe forwarding node. At the network layer 38-201, the message is testedin function block 40-411 to determine if the destination process islocated at the receiving configured node. If so, function block 40-413delivers the request to a process local to the receiving node and takesexit 40-407. If the destination process is not located at this node,network layer 38-201 processing continues as shown in block 40-415. Thedestination process is then tested to determine if it is for anon-configured node. If this is the case, the network layer readdressesthe response for a non-configured device, the data link layer retags theresponse and it is then transmitted, as shown in function blocks 40-417,40-419 and 40-421 respectively. If the processing in block 40-415 issuch that the destination process is not at a non-configuring node, therequest is readdressed for the next hop in the path, retagged, andtransmitted as shown in blocks 40-423, 40-425, and 40-427 respectively.It should be noted that processing in function blocks 40-409-40-427 isthe same for receipt by any node in the system.

FIG. 41 shows that the response from configured lap-top 37-15 can berouted to non-configured lap-top 37-13 at network address 1:1:3 byretracing the exact message path previously traversed in going fromnon-configured lap-top 37-13 to configured lap-top 37-15. Using thisapproach, it is not necessary to actively evaluate an additional datacommunication path to return the information required by thenon-configured device. The response from lap-top 37-15 containing thestatus of damper 37-16 is routed back through the nodes to node 37-3which, as previously discussed, tests the messages it receives todetermine if the message is destined for the node itself or for thenon-configured device on the node. In this case lap-top 37-15 addressesthe response to the source of the request, identified as network address1:1:3. Since node 37-3 at subnet 1, local address 1 recognizes the DropID 3 as the node port attached to non-configured device 37-13, theresponse is sent to lap-top 37-13.

Finally, it should be noted that a response from configured node 37-15to the request from non-configured device 37-13 need not traverse thesame path. For example, in adaptive routing systems variations inmessage traffic conditions may result in the response traversing adifferent path through the network than the request. Indeed, it ispossible for the network on communications link 37-4 to employ a staticrouting scheme, while the network on communications link 37-17 employsan adaptive routing, or vice versa. All adaptive, all non-adaptive, orany combination of networks can be used with the invention. However,regardless of how the response reaches the configured node, theconfigured node routes the message to the non-configured device based onthe Drop ID in the network address given as the destination of themessage. As a result, functions which are not normally incorporated intothe network can be performed by attaching a non-configured device to aconvenient port from one of the nodes on one of the networks in thesystem. This is because the Drop ID of the network address allowsresponses from configured nodes to be routed to non-configured devicesdropped from ports on configured nodes.

FIG. 42 shows one possible configuration of a facilities managementsystem using a network approach with multiple levels of control. Networkcontrollers 42-1, 42-3 and 42-5 operate at a first level and communicatewith each other over a high speed network bus 42-7. The number ofnetwork controllers which can be interconnected is limited only by thecapabilities of the network controllers themselves and the high speedbus 42-7. Each of the controllers 41-1, 42-3 and 42-5 at this firstlevel are peers because they have access to the same high speed networkbus and operate to control other lower level functions.

FIG. 42 illustrates this principle at network controller 42-5. Networkcontroller 42-5 operates as a master node relative to slave controllers42-11, 42-13 and 42-15. The network controller 42-5 communicates withslave controllers 42-11, 42-13 and 42-15 over a local bus 42-9 and withother network controllers over high speed bus 42-7. As the mastercontroller, network controller 42-5 allocates resources on the local busamong the slave controllers 42-11, 42-13 and 42-15. Each slavecontroller performs its individual functions and communicates with dataacquisition units 42-17, 42-19 and 42-21, respectively. Data acquisitionunits connected to sensors provide information needed for the slave nodeto perform its data processing functions.

Certain functions in the slave nodes 42-11, 42-13 and 42-15 may requireaccess to information obtained by data acquisition units not controlledby the particular slave node. For example, in performing itsindividualized function, slave node 42-11 may require access toinformation provided by sensors connected to data acquisition unit 42-19which is controlled by slave controller 42-13. In order to obtain thisdata, the slave controller 42-11 signals network controller 42-5 overthe low speed bus 42-9. In traditional systems, network controller 42-5then transmits a message over low speed bus 42-9 to slave controller42-13 requesting the data. Slave controller 42-13 would then respond bytransmitting the data to network controller 42-5 over the low speed bus42-9. Network controller 42-5 would then pass the required data to slavecontroller 42-11.

As the above example illustrates, the request from slave controller42-11 for data available from data acquisition units 42-19 results in aseries of messages transmitted over the low speed bus. As the number ofdata access requests across slave controllers increases, the messagetraffic across the slow speed bus grows at a high rate resulting in databus congestion and a reduction in processing efficiency.

The situation is compounded by additional requests made from peernetwork control nodes over the high speed bus. For example, for networkcontroller 42-3 to access data available from data acquisition unit42-19, a request must first be made to network controller 42-5 over highspeed bus 42-7. Network controller 42-5 then communicates over local bus42-9 in the manner described above. Thus, additional message trafficoccurs both on the local low speed bus 42-9 and on high speed bus 42-7.In addition, if network controller 42-3 is making its request for databased on a request for data based on a lower level slave controller ofits own, additional delays are incurred on the local bus connectingnetwork controller 42-3 and its slave controllers. Thus, it isinefficient for each data request to generate a series of messagesresulting in the actual data being obtained from the data acquisitionunit controlling the particular sensor.

An additional problem occurs when the network controller 42-5 itselfrequires access to multiple data items acquired by the data acquisitionunits 42-17, 42-19 and 42-21. A "feature" of a system, defined as afunction performed by the system, often requires data from one or moresensors which may be at different locations in the system. When onefeature implemented by a portion of the program in network controller42-5 requires access to data available from a data acquisition unit, thenetwork controller must seize control of the local bus and transmit amessage to the appropriate slave controller to acquire the informationand transmit the information back to the master controller. The slavecontroller responds by transmitting the requested information. This alsoresults in communication bottlenecks and reduced data processingefficiency. As a result, higher priority functions, such as fire alarmmessages, become stacked in a waiting list delaying corrective action.

FIG. 43 shows one embodiment of the present invention. Networkcontroller 43-23 is connected to high speed bus 43-25 and slavecontrollers 43-27, 43-29, 43-31 and 43-33 over local bus 43-35. Aspreviously mentioned, any number of slave controllers can be connectedto network controller 43-23 depending on the processing capabilities andrequirements of the network controller and on the communicationcapabilities of the local bus. In FIG. 43, network controller 43-23 isshown having three representative features, 43-35, 43-37 and 43-39. Itis assumed that each of these features is carried out under the controlof processor 43-41. The number of features shown is by way ofillustration and is not intended as a limitation. It is further assumedthat each of the features represents a desirable function requiringaccess to data available through the slave controllers and is carriedout in network controller 43-23. Finally, FIG. 43 shows a stored datatable 43-43. The stored data table is a cache memory used to hold valuesof data items as they are received from the slave controller by themaster controller. Aging timers 43-45 are associated with each data itemreceived and represent a predetermined time during which an individualdata item in stored data table 43-43 is valid. Thus, each data item instored data table 43-43 is associated with its own aging timer 43-45.

In operation, when a feature within the network controller or anotherprocessor or network controller requests data to perform a function, thenetwork controller determines if the data is available in stored datatable 43-43. If the data is present in the stored data table, thenetwork controller then determines if the aging timer associated withthe data has expired since the data was last acquired. If the agingtimer has expired, the network controller then issues messages requiredto obtain new data from the appropriate processor and data acquisitionunit. If the aging timer has not expired, network controller 43-23provides the feature, or other processor with the most recentinformation available in the stored data table. As a result, it isassumed that no significant change in the value of the sensor hasoccurred.

Assume that at t₀ Feature 1 represented by reference number 43-35 inFIG. 43 requests data from a sensor controlled by slave controller43-27. Network controller 43-23, under the control of processor 43-41,determines that there is no entry in stored data table 43-43. Thus,network controller 43-23 issues messages over the local bus to slavecontroller 43-27 directing slave controller 43-27 to obtain theinformation from a data acquisition unit and provide the information tonetwork controller 43-23. When network controller 43-23 receives thedata from slave controller 43-27, it stores the information in thestored data table and associates a predetermined aging timer with thedata item stored. It should be noted that the aging timer can beimplemented in any number of ways known in the art. For example, a countdown clock could be set and counted down from the time the informationis stored. This could be achieved by preloading a register to a knownstate and clocking the register up or down until a second logical state,e.g. all logical ones or logical zeros, is attained. Alternatively, thetime of storage could be recorded and compared with the time at the nextdata access. In this case, we assume, for example, that the aging timeris set for 100 milliseconds. The selection of 100 milliseconds is basedon predetermined system characteristics in which it is known that dataacquired by this particular sensor will be valid for 100 milliseconds.

At t₀ plus 50 milliseconds Feature 2 requests access to the same data.Under the control of processor 43-41, master controller 43-23 determinesthat the data item requested exists in stored data table 43-43. Themaster controller then tests the corresponding aging timer. Since dataacquired at t₀ was valid for 100 milliseconds and since the data accessin this case occurred only 50 milliseconds after the data was acquired,the data aging timer has not expired. Therefore network controller 43-23will provide the data to be processed by Feature 2 from the stored datatable. This is true even if the sensor controlled by slave 43-27 haschanged in value. The advantage is that no further data communication isrequired over the local bus for Feature 2 to have access to a validvalue of the required parameter.

At t₀ plus 100 milliseconds Feature 3 requests data available from asensor controlled by slave controller 43-29. Since this data has notbeen recorded in the stored data table 43-43, network controller 43-23issues the appropriate data communication messages to acquire the data.When network controller 43-23 receives the data from slave controller43-29, the data is stored in the stored data table 43-43. At t₀ plus 150milliseconds Feature 1 again requests access to the same data elementobtained by slave controller 43-27 at t₀, However, the processor in thenetwork controller determines that the data aging timer has expired.Thus, network controller 43-23 issues messages to acquire fresh datathrough slave controller 43-27. Assuming network delays of 1millisecond, the data is stored in the stored data table at t₀ plus 151milliseconds. Since the data aging timer for this data is 100milliseconds, the data will remain valid until t₀ plus 251 milliseconds.

It should be noted that the stored data table was not updated at 100milliseconds when the data aging timer for the data acquired at t₀expired. Even though the value of the sensor data controlled by slave 27may have changed by this time, no feature or other processor requiredaccess to this data. Thus, it was not necessary to update the storeddata table until access to the expired data was required. This furtherreduces unproductive communication on the local and high speed databuses.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 44. FIG. 44illustrates a further reduction in communication bottlenecks on a highspeed network bus 44-50. Network controller 44-52 performsrepresentative Features 44-53, 44-56 and 44-58 under the control ofprocessor 44-60. Network controller 44-52 also contains data storagetable 44-62 and aging timer 44-64 and is connected over local bus 44-65to slave controllers 44-66, 44-68, 44-70 and 44-72. Such slavecontrollers generally may be connected to one or more sensors, S, orother devices. Similarly, network controller 44-54 performs Features44-74 and 44-76 under the control of processor 44-78. Network controller44-54 further includes data storage table 44-80 and aging timer 44-82and communicates over local bus 44-83 with slave controllers 44-84,44-86 and 44-88.

By way of example, at time t₀ Feature 44-74 requests data available froma sensor controlled by slave controller 44-84. As previously discussed,network controller 44-54 generates appropriate messages over local bus44-83 which causes slave controller 44-84 to acquire the data andtransmit it to network controller 44-54. Network controller 44-54 thenstores the information in the stored data table 44-80 and assigns apredetermined aging time value 44-82. At t₀ plus 30 milliseconds, therequesting Feature in network controller 44-52 requests the same dataover the high speed network bus 44-50. In response, network controller44-54 determines from the data storage table 44-80 and the data agingtimer 44-82 that the current value in the data storage table is validand need not be updated. Thus, network controller 44-54 transmits overnetwork bus 44-50 the requested data as found in the data storage table.In addition, network controller 44-54 transmits the time the data wasread (the actual value of t₀) and the value of the aging timer. Inresponse, network controller 44-52 stores the data received in its datastorage table 44-62 and provides it to the requesting Feature forprocessing. In addition, network controller 44-52 determines the timethe data is stored in its data storage table 44-62 and how much longerthe data will be valid based on the aging time transmitted by networkcontroller 44-54. Assuming delays of approximately 2 milliseconds intransmitting data, the data is stored in data table 44-62 at t₀ plus 32milliseconds. Since the data would be valid from t₀ to t₀ plus 100milliseconds, network controller 44-52 determines that the data will bevalid for an additional 68 milliseconds. Thus, network controller 44-52stores an aging time value of 68 milliseconds as aging timer 44-64corresponding to the data element obtained from network controller44-54. Thus, for the next 68 milliseconds, the time during which networkcontroller 44-54 will not again access slave controller 44-84 to obtainthis data, features in network controller 44-52 or slave controllersconnected to network controller 44-52 over local bus 44-65 will obtainthis particular data element from data storage table 44-62. As a result,unproductive data requests over network bus 44-50 are also eliminated.Thus, in this embodiment the transfer of the data aging timer valueamong peer nodes connected on a network can produce significantreductions in data communications requirements. It should also be notedthat another alternative to transferring the data aging timer from thenetwork controller containing the requested data in its data storagetable is to transfer the remaining time available on the data agingtimer. This would allow the receiving network controller to avoid therequirement to calculate the remaining time during which the receiveddata would be valid.

It should also be noted that the use of the aging timer in a distributedfacilities management system (FMS) further allows the user to definevariable valid time periods for individual pieces of data. For example,a slave controller accessing data from a sensor sensing outside airtemperature need not access the data as frequently as a sensormonitoring the temperature of a furnace. This is because the rate ofchange of outside air temperature is slower than the rate of changeexpected in a furnace. Thus, the data aging timer would be differentdepending on the variability characteristic of the data. In lieu ofuserdefined data aging timers, the default values which areautomatically implemented in the absence of further userdefinedinformation can also be programmed.

According to another aspect of the invention, as illustrated in FIG. 45,it is useful from time-to-time to alter portions of the executable code.For example, in order to evaluate a new technique or to implement asoftware patch, it may be desirable to provide new code and skipexisting code. The present invention facilitates such flexibility byusing a technique to transfer program control on every sub-program call.For example, digital control module 45-1 has sections of electronicallyprogrammable read only memory (EPROM) 45-3 and erasable memory (e.g.EEPROM) 45-5. As code in EPROM 45-3 is executed routine Y comes to acall to routine X at 45-7. Rather than jumping to X which is located at45-9, all calls to sub-routines from EPROM 45-3 are routed to a pointertable in erasable memory 45-5. Thus, the call from routine Y at 45-7 toroutine X is routed to a pointer 45-11 residing in erasable memory 45-5.Pointer 45-11 contains a value which indicates the location of the codefor routine X 45-9. Thus, the call from Y to subroutine X results inaccessing erasable memory to identify another location in EPROM fromwhich the next execution step will take place.

In the event that a user wishes to by-pass routine X located in EPROM at45-9, it is possible to reprogram erasable memory 45-5 at location 45-11with a new pointer now pointing to a routine X' located at location45-13 in erasable memory. In this way, it is not necessary to disturbthe EPROM or otherwise change the device since it is possible toimplement a software patch in erasable memory and eliminate execution ofthe undesired code and EPROM by changing the pointer in erasable memoryto point to the desired new code.

In distributed facilities management systems, reliability of the datareceived (or not received) is often an issue. According to the presentinvention, as an aid to consistency and completeness, each data valuepassed between features of the facilities management system is taggedwith a reliable/unreliable indicator. As shown in FIG. 46, when data isrequested in function block 46-1, the received data is tested atdecision block 46-3 to determine if the received data was within theexpected range. If not, one possible alternative in decision block 46-5is to execute processing that determines if an alternate source of thedata is available. Such processing may include sorting throughdirectories to identify other physical locations in the network wherethe data is located. For example, the source data may be stored atanother memory location in the same or another node, or the same datamay be available from another sensor. Such processing could also includedetermining if a substitute for the unreliable data could be derivedfrom other data available on the network.

Function block 46-7 tests to determine if the alternate sources havebeen exhausted. If not the data could be obtained from an alternatesource and retested in decision block 46-3. If no alternate source isavailable or if the alternate sources are exhausted, another option isto use the previous value of the data. Thus, function block 46-9 testsif the previous value is available. If a previous value is available, itwould then be determined if the previous value is useful in this processat 46-11. If so, the previous value is used as shown in function block46-13 and the data is tagged with a reliability indicator appropriate tosuch old data in function block 46-15. If a previous value is notavailable or not useful, in function block 46-17 a decision is made aswhether alternate control is available. If not, or if alternate controlis determined not to be useful, as shown in function block 46-19, thedata can be used and tagged with an indication of its unreliability. Ofcourse, if alternate control is available, such alternate controltechniques can be executed as shown in function block 46-21. New datareceived in the alternate control process would also undergo reliabilitytesting as shown in function block 46-23. In any case, once data istagged with a reliability indicator in function block 46-15, the datacan then be passed on to other features as shown in function blocks46-25 and 46-27. This provides an indication of the reliability of thedata which can be included in intermediate calculations as an indicationof the reliability of an ultimate calculation. The use of thereliability indicator is discussed further below relative to control ofproportion and integral and derivative (PID) control loops.

FIG. 47 shows a facilities management system with network controllers47-2 and 47-4 connected by a high-speed bus 47-6. Each networkcontroller has a processor 47-8 and a memory 47-10. The networkcontrollers use the processing capability and the memory to perform avariety of functions required for facilities management and using dataprovided by a variety of analog input devices. The highest level ofprocessing in network controllers 47-2 and 47-4 is the features level47-12. Features are high-level functions performed by the networkcontroller to carry out predefined tasks.

In order to avoid significantly changing the software involved with thehigh-level features level 47-12, it is necessary to provide a commonformat for information provided the features by the analog inputhardware devices 47-20 and 47-22. This is accomplished in the softwareobjects level 47-14 which processes the data provided to the featureslevel 47-12. As previously discussed, each software object containsmethods or processes 47-26 and attributes 47-28 which represent the dataused by the processes. It should be noted that the processes 47-26 andattributes 47-28 are maintained in a database 47-30 which is controlledby database manager 47-32. One of the software objects is the analoginput software object 47-16.

The analog input software object communicates with hardware objects47-18 as shown in FIG. 47. Using a common interface, the analog inputsoftware object 47-16 requests data from the individual hardware objects48-34, 48-36 and receives information back from each hardware objectusing a common format. Hardware object managers 48-34 and 48-36communicate over communications link 48-38 with intelligent analoghardware 48-22 or with a digital control module 48-40 which performsproportional and integral and derivative (PID) control functions.Digital control module 48-40 communicates with function modules 48-20which interface directly to analog input hardware.

FIG. 49 shows a general model of an analog input software object.Typically, a hardware value 49-202 is produced as a result of an inputfrom a function module 48-20. An A/D converter produces ADC counts suchas 0-4095 for a twelve bit A/D. As previously mentioned, the exactmethod for linearly ranging the raw A/D counts varies as a function ofthe hardware. For a PID controller, the ranged value is computed usingthe following third order equation:

    Ranged value=(A.sub.1 ×X.sup.3)+(A.sub.2 ×X.sup.2)+(A.sub.3 ×X)+A.sub.4                                         (1)

Equation 1 is implemented in range block 49-206. Linearizationcoefficients A₁ . . . A₄ are defined during object generation. In mostcases, these are predefined based on the hardware device used. However,the linearization coefficients may be entered by the operator where thehardware used is not one of a predefined type or for any other reason.These are stored as linear parameters 1-4, shown at 49-208 in FIG. 49.The ranged output 49-210 becomes the current value of the object if theoptional features shown in FIG. 49 are not selected. Thus, convertingthe hardware input to a digital representation and applying linearcoefficients to obtain a ranged output 49-210, a current value which canbe processed by the analog input software object is derived regardlessof the analog input hardware involved.

Ranged output 49-210 can be routed to filter 49-212 which has a filterweight attribute 49-214. The optional filter allows the operator todefine the degree of filtering on analog input points. Such filteringcan be used to eliminate false alarms resulting from analog noise on thecalculated value. The following equation is used to compute the filteredvalue:

    Filtered value=F+1/W*(U-F)                                 (2)

where:

F=the previous filtered value

U=present unfiltered value

W=filter weight (1.0≦W), where a value of 1.0 disables the function.

Another optional function that may be used on the value of the analoginput object is the square root function 49-218 which uses flow constant49-220. The output of the square root function 49-222 is calculated asfollows: ##EQU1## where: K is the flow constant and is a configurationparameter.

Another optional feature is the span feature 49-224 which allows theoperator to span the analog value, to provide upper and lower bounds onthe analog value, and to provide an offset and gain adjustment tocorrect calibration errors. Using the span function, the operator entersa low input value 49-226 and a high input value 49-228 defining theinput range and a low output value 49-230 and a high output value 49-232defining the output range. A linear equation represented by FIG. 50defines span output 49-234 as follows:

    If input analog value is>span high input then output analog value=span high output

    If the input analog value is<span low input then output analog value=span low output

    If span low output≦input analog value≦span high input

    then:

    m=(span high output-span low output) (span high input--span low input)

    b=span low output-m*span low input

    output analog value=m*input analog value+b

where:

Input analog value is the analog value to be spanned;

Output analog value is the output of the function.

Output 49-234 of the span function is the current analog value of theanalog input object. Manual override attribute 49-236 provides theoperator the opportunity to override the current analog value to aspecified value. This may be done in the case of a faulty sensor or tosimulate a particular field condition. When manual override 49-236 isused, current value 49-238 is replaced and used for further processingin the alarm detection block 49-240. It should also be noted that manualoverride 49-236 may be accomplished by network controllers 47-2, 47-4rather than by an individual operator. Such override conditions can bedisplayed in any manner appropriate to the system.

The analog input object continues to track any reliable changes instatus due to hardware changes and reports the last computed status whenthe override is released. This is done in current value block 49-243.The history of a data point can be saved using save point history block49-246. For this purpose, a network controller 47-2, 47-4, would containa point history buffer which would be read and displayed in a separatepoint history window. In a facilities management system, the bufferwould normally consist of the last 48 samples of the analog input value,each sample taken every 30 minutes. Only the value of the analog inputobject would be graphed and displayed.

Alarm detection block 49-240 performs alarm analysis whenever thecurrent value changes, either due to a change in field conditionsreported or when a new value is received from an override command, andwhen high alarm limit 49-248 or low alarm limit 49-250 is changed. If anobject value falls outside the high and low alarm limits, an alarm isgenerated. According to the invention, an operator may also define asetpoint 49-252, a dead band value 49-254, and a differential value49-256. As shown in FIG. 51, dead band 51-254 sets a high warning 51-258and a low warning 51-260. When current analog value 51-200 exceeds thehigh warning 51-258, warning 51-262 is generated. Similarly, whencurrent analog value 51-200 goes below low warning 51-260, warning51-268 is generated. When the current analog value 51-200 exceeds thehigh alarm limit 51-248, alarm 51-272 is generated. Differential value51-256 eliminates excess alarm reports resulting from fluctuation of thecurrent analog value 51-200 above or below high alarm limit 51-248.Based on the differential value, when the analog value crosses one ofthe limits and causes the next alarm condition to be reported, it willnot change the alarm condition back to the previous condition until ithas crossed not only the limit but the limit and its differential51-256. Thus, after alarm 51-272 is generated, excursions of the currentanalog value 51-200 below high alarm 51-248 do not turn off the alarmcondition until current analog value 51-200 passes below the high alarm51-248 minus the differential 51-256. At this time, warning 51-264 isgenerated. Warning 51-264 is not removed until current analog value51-200 passes below high warning 51-258 minus differential 51-256 tocreate a normal condition. A corresponding process takes place when thecurrent analog value 51-200 makes excursions around the low warning51-260 and low alarm 51-255.

Alarm delay timers are also possible. For example, if an analog objectreceives a warning command, an alarm delay timer will be started untilit times out. Both change of state and trigger reports due to anyreported changes in status will be locked out and not reported. This canbe used to prevent nuisance alarms when the analog input object is usedas a feedback to an analog output object as discussed. When an analogoutput object issues a command, it also issues the warning command tothe associated analog input object. The delay time can then be used toprevent alarms while the field is responding to the command. When thetimer expires, the new status of the object is reported. If no delaytimer is specified the status is reported immediately. If alarm timingis not in process, any reliable change in status is reported for theanalog input object, assuming the object is not currently overwritten.

Status messages 49-278 are reported to alarm reporting/triggers function49-280. Status 49-278 can be either high alarm, low alarm, high warning,low warning, or normal depending on the current value and limitsdefined. Changes in status are reported if the object is not disabled,and the change of state (COS) reports are not locked out based on COSlock 49-282. The operator can define three groupings of report types;warning 49-284, alarm 49-286, and normal 49-288. High and low alarmconditions use the alarm report type, high and low warning conditionsuse the warning report type, and normal conditions will use the normalreport type. A report type can be defined by the user during generationas critical 1-4, maintenance, status, or none. Reports are not sent if areport type is not specified. In addition, the user can optionallyspecify the alarm message number 49-290 through reports using the alarmreport type and a warning message number for reports using the warningreport type.

As previously discussed, the analog input object general model shown inFIG. 49 maps into various types of hardware. One example is shown inFIG. 52 in which a PID controller hardware performs all functions exceptthe alarm reporting/triggers and the save point history 49-246. Theseremain in the network controller 47-2, 47-4.

In operation, an operator defines an analog input object by entering asystem name, the object name, the system name of the hardware object theanalog input object will map to, the object name of the hardware object,the analog input object will map to, and other parameters. These includeanalog units, high and low limits, set point, normal band, differential,filter weight, the reports types that the various reports will be sentto, flow coefficients, span high and low inputs and high and lowoutputs, and linearization parameters 1-4. These were discussed above.Using this information, the analog input object operates on any hardwareoutput to convert the output to a floating point representation whichcan be used by higher level software elements. In addition, the analoginput object performs background processing in the form of alarmdetection and reporting as previously described. Thus, it is possible toutilize a wide variety of different data format hardware operationalunits to acquire data which will be used by the higher level softwarefeatures.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated, it will be clear that variations in the details of theembodiments specifically illustrated and described may be made withoutdeparting from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined inthe appended claims.

FIG. 53 shows a facilities management system with network controllers53-2 and 53-4 connected by high-speed bus 53-6. Each network controllerhas a processor 53-8 and a memory 53-10. The network controllers use theprocessing capability and the memory to perform a variety of functionsrequired for facilities management based on data provided by a varietyof binary input devices. The highest level of processing in networkcontrollers 53-2 and 53-4 is the features level 53-12. Features arehigh-level functions performed by the network controller to carry outpredefined tasks. In order to avoid significantly changing the softwareat high-level features level 53-12 for different input devices, it isnecessary to provide a common format for information provided to thefeatures by the binary input devices 53-20 and 53-22. This isaccomplished in a software objects level 53-14 which filters the dataprovided to the features level 53-12. Each software object containsmethods or processes 53-26 and attributes 53-28 which represent the dataused by the processes. It should be noted that the processes 53-26 andattributes 53-28 are maintained in database 53-30 which is controlled bydata base manager 53-32. One of the software objects is the binary inputobject 53-16. The binary input object 53-16 communicates with hardwareobjects 53-18. Using a common interface, the binary input object 53-16requests data from the individual hardware objects 54-34, 54-36 andreceives information back from each hardware object using a commonformat. Hardware object managers 54-34 and 54-36 communicate overcommunications link 54-38.

FIG. 55 shows the general model of a binary input object. Hardware input55-202 produces a contact condition on signal line 55-204. Due to faultyhardware or other noisy conditions, contact condition 55-204 from binaryinput hardware 55-202 may flutter and cause excessive reporting. Ifhardware input 55-202 supports it, such nuisance changes can be avoidedby debounce filter 55-206. Debounce filter 55-206 is hardware dependentand relies on a software object attribute, debounce timer 55-208. Thevalue of the debounce timer 55-208 is also dependent on the hardwaretype. The debounce filter 55-206 verifies that the samples contactstatus remains unchanged during a debounce time period defined bydebounce timer 55-208. If no change in the contact condition on signalline 55-204 occurs during the debounce period, the contact conditionbecomes the filtered binary input 55-210. Filtered binary input signal55-210 will appear on signal line 55-214 unless overridden by overridecommand 55-216.

Debounce timer attribute 55-208 can, for example, define the time inmilliseconds and may be subject to other system peculiar constraints.For example, in one FMS the debounce timer must be a value devisable by12 and may range from 1 to 255.

Filtered binary input 55-210 is passed to contact value function block55-212 which determines the current contact state on signal line 55-214.Contact value function 55-212 places filtered binary input 55-210 oncurrent contact state signal line 55-214 unless overridden by overridecommand 55-216.

Override command 55-216 allows an operator to set the contact value ofthe binary input software object to a user specified value. This couldbe used in the case of faulty or off-line hardware or to simulate aspecific condition. When override command 55-216 is executed by contactvalue process 55-212, the new contact value will be used to determinethe current status of the object based on the normal contact conditionstored as attribute 55-220. However, even while overridden, the binaryinput object still tracks and stores any reliable contact changes anduses the last reported state when the override is cancelled by theoperator.

Alarm analysis is performed in function block 55-218 when the currentcontact state on signal 55-214 changes, either due to a change in afield condition or when a new value is received from an overridecommand. Alarm analysis is also performed when the normal contactcondition is changed. The normal contact condition is defined when thebinary input software object is generated. However, the normal conditioncan be changed for feedback analysis by a related binary output objectmanager herein, or by other high level features. The normal contactcondition is stored in memory as attribute 55-220. Alarm analysisfunction 55-218 produces data on signal line 55-222 for statusinformation attribute 55-224. A new status 55-224 of a binary inputobject is determined by comparing the current state on signal line55-214 against the normal contact condition 55-220. If they do notmatch, the binary input object status 55-224 is set to alarm. If they domatch or no normal contact condition was specified, all changes ofcontact value are considered normal changes.

A change due to an override command is always processed immediately. Anoverride command cancels any alarm delay timing described below that maybe in effect. When a change to the normal contact condition is received,alarm delay timer 55-228 is started. While this timer is timing out, thealarm delay status is set active. Until it times out, both change ofstate and trigger reports resulting from contact changes are locked outfor the duration of the alarm delay timer 55-228. This has the advantagethat it prevents nuisance alarms when the binary input object is used asa feedback to a binary output object, as shown in FIG. 56. When thebinary output object issues a command to a field device or hardwareoperational unit, it also modifies the normal contact condition of theassociated binary input object. The delay time can then be used toprevent alarms while the field is responding to the command. When thetime specified in alarm delay timer 55-228 expires, the current contactvalue 55-216 is compared against the normal contact condition 55-220 anda new status 55-224 is determined.

Using latch point flag 55-230 the operator may enable a latchingfunction in the binary input object. When the latch point flag 55-230 isin a state to select the latching function, any changes to an alarmcondition will be latched until a reset latch command is received. Nofurther change of state processing in alarm analysis function block55-218 will be performed when the alarm condition is latched. This isindicated by latch status flag 55-232.

The new status 55-224 is routed to a report/trigger routing function55-234. As previously noted, any changes in status are reported if thebinary input object is not disabled and change of status reports arecurrently not locked out. Several reporting conditions exist: reportoverride 55-238, report normal 55-240 and report alarm 55-242. A reporttype (critical 1-4 maintenance, status or none) can be defined by theuser when generating the binary input object for each of the reportingconditions. If no report type is specified for a condition, the objectwill not report that condition. In addition, the user can optionallyspecify an alarm message number 55-244. The alarm message associatedwith the alarm message number is reported together with the alarmcondition report. Report lock flag 55-248 and trigger lock flag 55-246indicate conditions in which the binary input object will lock outreports to other tasks performed in the network controller. The changeof state message on signal line 55-250 indicates to the high levelfeature that the contact condition 55-204 from the hardware input 55-202has changed.

Point history function 55-252 also receives signals from alarm analysisfunction 55-218. Point history function 55-252 samples and archivescertain attributes associated with the binary input object. The samplesare stored in a point history file. An operator can manually disable orenable the data gathering process. This is reflected in point historyflag 55-254. The save point history attribute 55-256 reflects an optionto save the samples in a file in a computer or write the samples to aprinter. Typically, a point is sampled when a status change occurs and10 samples are stored. The data sample includes the current contactcondition, the current status, the software override flag, the off lineflag and the time and date of each current. If save point historyattribute 55-256 indicates that this option is not selected, thehistorical information is stored only at a network controller. It shouldbe further noted that point history information consisting of the last10 binary input events recorded in the network controller can bedisplayed or a dynamic trend in the form of a text table can bedisplayed.

An important feature of the invention is that a binary input softwareobject can map to a variety of hardware types. FIG. 57 shows PID or DCMhardware 57-301 having the hardware input and debounce filter built in.The filtered binary input is then transmitted to the contact valuefunction which is located in a network controller and operated by thebinary input object manager 57-303. It should be noted that the binaryinput object may map to two different types of hardware on the PID orDCM controller 57-301. The first is a single binary input and the secondinvolves mapping two separate inputs to one slot on the PID or DCMcontroller. This is called a multi-binary input and needs a subslotnumber to select which of the two inputs the binary object maps too.Thus, the binary input object will support two instances of the binaryinput.

In FIG. 58 the analog output object manager 58-100 for analog outputdigital object 58-114 resides in a network controller and receives threetypes of input commands. Highest priority commands are override and autopriority 1 commands on signal line 58-1 which can originate in a networkcontroller (NC). Set AOD and release commands 58-3 are the secondpriority and also can originate in the same network controller. Signalline 58-15 routes output deflection information from the analog outputdigital object in a network controller to PID hardware 58-101. Incontrast, local commands from a PID loop 58-5 often originate in adigital control module, e.g. 58-18. These are lowest priority commandsand it is assumed that only one local PID loop command 58-5 is appliedto the PID Hardware 60-101 at a time.

The local command from the PID loop on signal line 58-5 is a floatingpoint number which represents a percentage between 0% and 100% of fullscale deflection of the process being controlled. For a PID controller,this must be converted to a percentage of full scale deflective of aparticular output device. Such conversions are not necessary for outputsfrom the network controller.

By way of example, in facilities management system 59-8, a high levelsoftware feature programmed to perform control system functions requestsdata transfers between itself and an analog output object which is oneof the software objects 59-12 programmed into a memory 59-16 of anetwork controller 59-2. Network controllers 59-2, 59-4 each mayfunction to control activities of digital control modules 59-18 and59-20. The analog output object can map to hardware objects 59-14 andthe network controllers 59-2 and 59-4 interface with digital controlmodules 59-18 and 59-20. Software objects 59-12 are stored in a databaseand are controlled by a database manager for objects of that type. Asdiscussed below, analog output objects can be analog output digitalobjects or analog output setpoint objects. Thus, an analog outputdigital (AOD) object 58-114 is manipulated by analog output objectmanager 58-100. Objects, including the analog output digital object58-114, are structured into methods and attributes as describedpreviously.

The analog output object can also be programmed directly into a PIDcontroller (not connected to a network controller) which exercisescontrol functions on hardware devices connected to it. Indeed, theanalog output objects described below can be programmed into any systemwhich exercise control over output devices. The PID function of afacilities management system described below is by way of example and isnot a limitation of the invention.

The local PID command on signal line 58-5 is thus routed to span commandoperator 58-7 in the PID hardware 58-101, which maps the command in theconfigured range specified by the high and low limits 58-9 to a commandin the range specified by high and low output limits 58-11, according tothe linear equation described below. This provides the flexibility toperform a variety of manipulations of the final analog adjust valuecommanded at devices 59-22 and 59-24.

At database generation, an operator enters two values defining an inputrange 58-9 and two values 58-11 defining an output range. It should benoted that if the span command operator is not desired, all fourparameters are set to a value which will cause the signal to skip thisoperator. Logically the span function is a linearization based on aninput analog value the local PID command signal line 58-5 performed asfollows:

    If input analog value is>span high input then analog output value=span high output

    If input analog value<span low input then analog output value=span low output

    If span low input≦input analog value≦span high input

    then

    m=(span high output-span low output) (span high input-span low input)

    b=span low output-m*span low input

    analog output value=m*(input analog value)+b.

The above assumes that the analog input value is the analog value to bespanned and the analog output value is the output of the span commandoperator 58-7.

The output of span command operator 58-7 or, in the case of an analogdigital output object, percentage deflection on signal line 58-15 isinterpreted based on driven hardware type. Depending upon therequirements of the output device 58-22, the output can be issued eitheras a proportional value or as an incremental or delta control output.This selection is made by a user who configures the system at databasegeneration timer via select command operator 58-13. The select commandoperator 58-13 also determines who has control of the active devicedepending on the priority of its inputs. Thus, span command operatoroutput 58-112 or the network controller override commands 58-15 from theanalog output digital object 58-114 are selected by select commandoperator 58-13. Based on priority, select command operator 58-13completes an attribute 58-17 called current command. Current command58-17 is, for example a percentage of the full scale deflection of theoutput device 59-22, 59-24. As previously indicated, it is important todistinguish that the local command from the PID loop 58-5 is apercentage of full scale deflection of the entire process while theoutput 58-112 of the span command operator 58-7 is always a percentageof full scale deflection of the physical device rather than the process.This provides a means to convert local PID commands to commandscompatible with multiple physical objects. Thus, the local PID commandscan be configured for compatibility with the PID loop while the spancommand operator output 58-112 provides compatibility with physicaldevices e.g. 59-22, 59-24.

It should be noted that the select command operator 58-13 is configuredat generation time to route signals either to fixed span operator 58-19or delta control output operator 58-21. This is necessary when there isno means for determining the type of output required. If the outputrequired from the analog output digital object is a proportional analogoutput 58-23, fixed span operator 58-19 is activated. A proportionalanalog output is a percent of full scale. Fixed span operator 58-19takes the output 58-112 from the span command function 58-7 and runs itthrough a fixed span operator 58-19 which has 0-100 as the input rangeand a selected number of output states, 0-4,095, as the output range.Fixed span operator 58-19 then converts this to the appropriate signalbased on the output device 58-22. The adjustment value is thentransmitted to the proportional analog output 58-23. For example, if theoutput device generates a signal between 10 and 15 volts and the spancommand operator 58-7 requires 50% of full scale and D/A converter with4096 states (0-4095) would require a digital input of 2047 to generate a12.5 volt output (50% of the difference between the 10 and 15 volt lowerand upper limits).

Control is transferred to the delta control output block 58-21 when anincremental analog output 58-25 is required. The output of delta controlblock 58-21 is a pulse 58-27 whose polarity and duration drives theoutput device to adjust to some percentage of full scale, e.g., thepercentage of full scale indicated by the current command. The lastvalue of the current command attribute 58-17 is stored and compared witha new current command attribute valve. The difference is then computed.The sign of this difference determines the direction of the pulse(positive or negative). The magnitude of the change is converted indelta control output block 58-21 to seconds of pulse duration using the"step ratio" attribute 58-29. "Step ratio" attribute 58-29 is entered atgeneration time for the particular output type and represents a numberof seconds of duration per 1% of full scale. For example, if the stepratio attribute 58-29 is 0.02 seconds per 1%, and the computed delta is-20%, then the pulse will be a negative signal with a duration of 400milliseconds. Thus, multiplying the change in percentage by the stepratio determines the length of the pulse duration.

On some function modules, e.g., two channels 58-26 are available. Inthese cases if the sign is positive, a first channel is pulsed and ifthe sign is negative, the second channel is pulsed.

Another attribute, saturation size 58-31, defines the saturation pulsesize in seconds. A pulse of this duration ensures that the output isdriven to the intended extreme. This can be used to resynchronize theoutput any time the output of the span function calls for 0 or 100%.This is advantageous since it allows the error buildups which occurduring operation to be eliminated each time an extreme position isrequested.

Hand/off/auto switch 58-33 operates in two positions. In a first or autoposition, the current command attribute is used to control the physicaldevices. In a second or manual position, function module does not reactto the current command attribute 58-17 which is still updated by theanalog output digital object. Every change of state of the hand/off/autoswitch 58-33 is reported through the system so that polling is notrequired. Thus, all software applications react accordingly.

As previously discussed, the analog output object is made up of softwarewhich has both methods and attributes. Some of the individual attributeshave been discussed. The methods include the span command operation, theselect command operation, and the hardware dependent conversions whichinclude the fixed span output or delta control output. Other attributesalso exist for the person machine interface (PMI) and for thehand/off/auto switch. The person machine interface is affected by agraphic symbol number attribute 58-35, a decimal point attribute 58-37,and an engineering units attribute 39. Each of these attributes affectthe display. The auto dial flag 58-41, report lock flag 58-43, reporttype override 58-45, trigger lock flag 58-47, and com enable flag 58-49are attributes which effect where and when the hand/off/auto switch58-33 information is routed.

FIG. 61 illustrates an embodiment in which the analog output objectallows PID controller 61-301 to operate on multiple physical deviceswith only one PID output signal 61-303. In this case, assume that atemperature regulation circuit employs both a heating device 61-305 anda cooling device 61-307. A first analog output digital object 61-309controls the heating device 61-305 by translating PID signals between50% and 100% of full scale deflection into a 0 to 100% range of theheating device 61-305. A second analog output digital object 61-311translates 0 to 49% full scale deflection outputs from the PIDcontroller into 0 to 100% full scale operation of the cooling device61-307. Thus, a single PID control output signal 61-303 from 0 to 100%of its full scale can be used with two or more analog output digitalobjects to allow the single PID controller output to control theoperation of two or more separate individual physical devices, such as aseparate heating and cooling 61-307 unit. It should be noted that it maybe desirable for ranges to overlap. Thus, heating device 61-305 may beallowed to operate when PID signals are between 0 and 60% and coolingdevice 61-307 may operated between 40-100% of PID full scale deflection.This results in a 20% range when both units operate.

FIG. 62 illustrates a further embodiment of an analog output object. Theembodiment in FIG. 62 shows an analog output setpoint object 63-405which can be used to operate with devices other than PID controllers.One of the functions of the analog output setpoint object 63-405 is tosend commands to a device outside of the FMS system and to verify thatthe command was acted upon. An example of this object's use would be tosend a desired setpoint command as a voltage level to an externalcontroller such as a chiller controller and using the associated analoginput object to verify that the external controller has acted upon thecommand. The primary difference between the analog output setpointobject and the analog output digital object is in the order of the spanprocessing. In the case of an analog output digital object, in PIDhardware 62-403 the span command operation 58-7 is done before selectcommand operator 58-13 selects whether the override command 58-15 fromthe network controller or the spanned command 58-112 should be passed onto a fixed span operator 58-19 or delta control output operator 58-21.In the case of the analog output setpoint object 62-405, PID hardware62-403 is the same as PID hardware 58-101, except for the absence ofselect command operator 58-13. In the case of an analog output setpointobject 62-405, the span command processing 62-401 in PID hardware 62-403is done after select command processing rather than before. In this caseselect command processing is performed by the analog output objectmanager 62-405 in network controller 62-407. This is because in analogoutput digital object processing of PID controller outputs, the spanprocessing receives a percentage of the full scale of the output of theprocess being controlled. With the analog output digital object, anoperator is allowed to input parameters concerning the desired operationof the physical device driven by the analog output object. For example,an operator can identify the desired position of a valve, (e.g., halfopen or half closed) rather than a parameter of the process. This isallowed because access to the modify current command 62-17 is allowedafter the span operation. In the case of the analog output setpointobject, since the PID controller may not be used to issue the commands,all commands may be in terms of the desired position of the physicaldevice, and thus the span command processing 62-401 is moved. It servesthe function of allowing some modification of the commands set from thenetwork controller. As a result select command processing is notrequired in the PID hardware 62-403.

In FIG. 63, operational feedback for alarm analysis can also beimplemented. The manipulated variable output 63-501 of a controller63-503 is returned as feedback signal 63-513 from process 63-511 notonly to the controller 63-503, but also to an analog input object63-505. The analog input object 63-505 is a software object in a networkcontroller memory whose attributes are used to define input alarm limitsand setpoints of the process 63-511 being controlled. The analog inputobject controller 63-503 also receives the set point information 63-507from the analog output setpoint object 63-509. This is made possible bybasing the analog input object 63-505 on the analog output objectcurrent command 58-17 before the span operation. As a result, the setpoint information 63-507 and the process feedback signal 63-513 are inthe same units, facilitating use of the process feedback by the analoginput object. Therefore, without further translation, the analog inputobject can run alarm checks and other methods which are part of itsdefinition as disclosed herein. By sending the setpoint command 63-507from the analog output setpoint object 63-509 to the setpoint attributeof the analog input object 63-505 and providing the process feedback63-513 also to the analog input object, the analog input object 63-505can be used to verify that the external control performed its requiredfunction.

FIG. 64 shows a facilities management system with network controllers64-2 and 64-4 connected by high speed bus 64-6. Each network controllerhas a processor 64-8 and a memory 64-10. The network controllers 64-2,64-4 use the processing capability and the memory to perform a varietyof high level functions required for facilities management using dataprovided by a variety of input devices.

In addition, the network controllers 64-2, 64-4 command lower levelsoftware to cause output devices to perform specified tasks or switch tospecified states. The highest level of processing in network controllers64-2 and 64-4 is the features level 64-12. Features are high-levelfunctions performed by the network controller to carry out predefinedtasks. In order to avoid significantly changing the software involvedwith high-level features level 64-12, it is necessary to provide acommon format for information and commands provided by the features tobinary output devices 64-20 and 64-22. This is accomplished in asoftware objects level 64-14 which processes the data provided by thefeatures level 64-12. Each software object contains methods or processes64-26 and attributes 64-28 which represent the data used by theprocesses. It should be noted that the processes 64-26 and attributes64-28 are maintained in a database 64-30 which is controlled by databasemanager 64-32. One of the software objects is the binary output object64-16. The binary output object 64-16 communicates with hardware objects64-18 as shown in FIG. 64. Using a common interface, the binary output64-16 object transmits and receives data from individual hardware objectmanagers 65-34, 65-36 using a common format. Hardware object managers65-34 and 65-36 communicate over communication link 65-38 to hardwareoutput devices which have two stable states. One example is a relaywhich may be energized or not.

FIG. 66 shows the general model of a binary output object. As previouslyindicated, the binary output object provides an interface to binaryoutput hardware residing on a variety of hardware devices. As with othersoftware objects according to the invention, the interface to thehardware devices may be through another software level, the hardwareobjects level which receives information from the software objects in auniform format. The hardware object level may also provide signals toslave controllers located between the nodes and hardware devices.Commands to the output hardware devices can optionally be run throughdifferent constraints to ensure that the command will not damage theequipment. In addition, multiple levels of priority for commandsreceived from a higher level software feature can be implemented. Thisis done in the command priority check 66-202 which receives commands onsignal line 66-201 from the higher level software features. Whencommunication enable flag 66-203 is in an enabled state, commandsreceived on signal line 66-201 in the command priority check module66-202 are checked for priority against the current command prioritystored as shown in block 66-205.

Commands on signal line 66-201 can originate either with a facilitiesmanagement system operator, as in the case of certain overrides, or witha higher level software feature. For example, in a facilities managementsystem certain demand limiting, time scheduling, and load rollingactivities managed by higher level features can issue commands on signalline 66-201 through the binary output object to hardware devices. Onepossible schedule of priorities in a facilities management system wouldbe to place a manual override in response to a fire at the highestpriority and an automatic override in response to a fire at a next levelof priority. The next lowest level of priority could involve ordinaryoverride commands followed by lower priority commands to perform suchfunctions as demand limiting, time scheduling and load rolling.

When conflicting requests are present at different priority levels, thehighest priority action is determined by the command priority check66-202 and only the highest priority action is performed. When thehighest priority command is released, the next highest priority commandtakes control. It should be noted that a system may contain multiplebinary output objects each maintaining its own priority table fordetermining which high level software feature has control of the object.Thus, a first binary output object may have a different set ofpriorities from a second binary output object in the same system.

A binary output object can be used in a feedback arrangement with abinary input object. This allows reducing processing by monitoring thestate of the feedback input. All commands issued at priorities 1, 2, or3 (fire or override) are issued, since the consequences of an incorrectfeedback indication could be destruction of the controlled system.However, at other priorities the command need not be issued if the stateof the feedback binary input object currently matches the commandedoutput state. Feedback analysis can be prevented by a previous disablecommand. In this case, the previous command is checked, rather than thefeedback, to determine if a new command should be issued. When nofeedback input is defined to a binary output object, the command isissued. Similarly, if the feedback input is defined but is known to bepresently unreliable, then the command is also issued. Finally, ifrestore flag 66-207 has been set by the operator when the binary outputobject database is generated, the binary output object will be restoredto the last commanded condition whenever a network controller 64-2, 64-4is started or when the binary output object comes on line after acommunications failure or a reboot of the local database. Thus, the lastcommand to the object is automatically reissued if:

1. The last commanded condition does not match the current feedbackstatus, assuming feedback is assigned.

2. No feedback was assigned.

3. Feedback assigned is presently unreliable.

When restoring a facilities management system, the auto-restoreoperation could also prevent commands from being issued until after allregularly time scheduled commands have been updated. Start/Stopconstraints block 66-209 operates to prevent commands from being issuedunder certain circumstances. High priority commands, e.g. commands atpriorities 1, 2, or 3, would not be checked against start/stopconstraints in block 66-209, for the reasons discussed above. However,all other commands must comply with the minimum on and off times storedin blocks 66-214 and 66-213 and the maximum number of starts per hourstored in block 66-215. Processing in start/stop constraints block66-209 checks the command against these parameters to avoid short cycleon/off commands. The minimum on time is a value in seconds which may bedefined by the operator to identify how long the object must remain inforce before a stop command is allowed. Similarly, the minimum off timedefines how long the object must remain off before a start command isallowed. The maximum number of starts per hour 66-215 is defined by theoperator to specify how many starts are allowed for a particular binaryoutput object in a given hour. The number of starts is reset each houron the hour using a time of day indication provided by the networkcontroller 64-2. Any time a start command is requested, the number ofstarts in the past hour is checked against the number allowed. If thelimit has already been reached, the request is queued and the command isnot issued until the constraint is removed. Commands are kept in acommand priority table for possible issuance after the constraints haveexpired. When the constraint is removed, the command priority table ischecked to determine the highest priority command to be issued.

After start/stop constraint processing 66-209, heavy equipment delayprocessing 66-217 takes place if the binary object has been defined as aheavy equipment object. Following the start of a heavy equipment objectin a given network controller, no other start command to a heavyequipment object in the same network controller would be allowed untilthe specified delay period has expired. The operator can specify a heavyequipment delay 66-219 anywhere from 0 to 255 seconds. Heavy equipmentdelays only apply to the network controller that the output object isdefined on. Thus, there is no attempt to coordinate the start of heavyequipment objects on a first network controller 64-2 to those on anothernetwork controller 64-4. The heavy equipment delay helps preventdamaging surge currents caused by the simultaneous starting of multipleinductive loads.

Before a binary command can be issued, it must be converted to therepresentation understood by the particular hardware device the objectcontrols. Thus current command 66-221, which is in the form of astart/stop command, is related to relay processing block 66-223. Relayprocessing blocks 66-223 relies on data stored as output relay logic66-225 to determine if a start command opens or closes relay contacts.For example, for certain hardware devices the start command may closerelay contacts, while for other hardware devices the start command mayopen relay contacts. This information is stored in output relay logic66-225 and the translation is made in relay logic processing 66-223 togenerate binary command 66-227.

In addition, two types of output configurations can be supported. Theseare defined during database generation. The first is a momentary output,also called a motor start/stop. This output consists of two separatelycontrolled relays with the (A) side configured as a form C type and the(B) side configured as a form C type. The (A) and (B) sides refer towhich of two possible outputs are activated. One of the parametersdefined for an output of this type is a pulse duration in milliseconds.During database generation this can be fixed in multiples of 20 or 12milliseconds based on the hardware type. Relay processing block 66-223defaults to energize (A) side for a defined pulse duration and thende-energize the (A) side in the start condition. In the stop conditionrelay logic 66-223 energizes the (B) side for a defined pulse durationand de-energizes the (B) side. By changing the hardware outputorientation, this can be reversed. A stop command received during thedefined pulse generation energizing the other side of the output device,will be stored and not acted upon until completion of the previouscommand.

A second output type works strictly on the (A) relay side which is aform C relay. This is the maintained output in which the defaulthardware orientation is such that a start command energizes the (A) sideand a stop command de-energizes the (A) side. This of course can also bereversed. Based on the above, the issue command processing block 66-229generates start and stop binary commands on signal line 66-231 tohardware output 66-233. Issue command processing 66-229 also generatescommand issued information on signal lines 66-235 and 66-237. Thecommand issued information includes the binary command and timeinformation which is used in alarm analysis and reporting in a binaryinput object receiving feedback signals from the binary output object.

As previously discussed, a binary output object and a binary inputobject can operate together in a feedback configuration. During databasegeneration of the binary output object, an optional binary input object66-239 can be assigned as feedback. Alarm processing is not done in thebinary output object but instead is done at the corresponding feedbackbinary input object 66-239. However, alarm status signals are routed tothe binary output. Issue command processing 66-229 sends commands onsignal line 66-241 to set the normal contact condition of the associatedfeedback object to a value. This results in alarm analysis processing asdescribed herein.

The processing results are reported to the binary output object andbecome the status 66-243 of the binary output object. Status is definedas reliable and unreliable. In the case of a feedback object 66-239, ifthe normal contact condition cannot be modified, the status of thebinary output object is unreliable. Feedback trouble attribute 66-245then signals that the feedback object 66-239 is not operational from thebinary output object point of view. Once the binary output object showsthe feedback object 66-239 is unreliable, it remains that way until thebinary input object 66-239 becomes reliable and issues a correspondingreport.

The binary output object status 66-243 when feedback is not assigned isalways normal and no reports are generated. However, when feedback isassigned, the binary output object status 66-243 can be either normal66-247 or alarm 66-249. During database generation, the user may definereport types as critical 1-4, maintenance, status or none for alarm andnormal report condition types 66-251 and 66-253. If no report type isspecified for a condition, the object does not report that condition. Itshould be noted that a binary input object also generates similarreports and that, unless its report types are set to "no report",duplicate reports of the same condition can occur in a feedback system.The command issued information on signal line 66-237 reports any changeof state in the binary output to report router block 66-255, whichperforms processing to report the information to appropriate display andother devices in the system. If report lock 66-257 is set, the binaryoutput object processing in report router 66-255 prevents any furtherinformation reporting. However, the binary output object itself remainsable to accept commands.

Command issued information on signal line 66-235 is routed to triggerprocessing 66-261. Trigger processing reports triggers to certain higherlevel software features which request it. For example, a higher levelsoftware feature may request a trigger when the binary output objectissues a start command, so that the higher level software feature maybegin executing certain other steps particular to its function. Iftrigger lock 66-263 indicates a lock condition, trigger processing66-261 will prevent trigger reporting. Point history processing 66-271samples, displays and archives certain attributes associated with thebinary output object. The samples are stored in a point history file foreach object. Point history flag 66-273 enables point history processingbased on command issued data provided on signal line 66-275. Whenselected, save point flag 66-277 stores the historical information on anarchive file on a peripheral device. When not selected, the informationis only stored at the network controller 64-2.

A hand/off/auto (HOA) switch can also be implemented. Such a switchallows a user to manually turn the output on or off. Hardware output66-233 detects if the switch is in the auto condition and reports thisback to the binary output object. Any change from the auto position willbe reported to the operator indicating that the object has beenoverridden. In the auto position, the binary output object manager,which controls the operation of the binary output object, executescommands as described above. In the hand/off position the most recentcommand is remembered and executed when the switch is placed back in theauto position. Intermediate commands are not executed.

In operation, an operator configures a binary output object based on thehardware output to be controlled. The binary output object resides in anetwork controller 64-2, 64-4 and is operated by a binary output objectmanager 67-301. Binary output object manager 67-301 directs theprocessing to cause binary commands 67-231 to be routed to a hardwareoutput device 67-233 which is part of a proportional plus integral plusderivative (PID) controller or other such extension module 67-303. Anoperator using a network terminal or some other device for communicatingwith the binary output software object enters the software object nameand the name of the hardware object which the binary output softwareobject will map to. The user then selects such parameters as reporttypes, point history, auto-restore flags heavy equipment delays,start/stop constraints, the name of an optional feedback object 67-239and hardware dependent fields.

Hardware dependent fields selected by the operator include slot: 67-305,which is an integer number defining which of several possible outputmodules this particular binary output object maps to; point type 67-307,which identifies if a hardware output is a maintained relay or alatched; LED status 67-309, which identifies whether the LED will be onwhen the relay is open or closed; and a pulse duration 67-311, which isused when point type 67-307 indicates a latched relay. The value inpulse duration 67-311 represents the length of time in milliseconds theoutput will be pulsed for commands. The entered value must be divisibleby 20. These parameters define a PID or digital control module (DCM)controller. Other types of hardware dependent fields are also possible.For example, point type 67-307 could have a value between 1 and 3depending on whether the hardware output is one stage, two stages, orthree stages. This places certain constraints on the slot number 67-305.If the hardware is a two or three stage type, both the selected slot andthe selected slot +1 or the selected slot +1 and +2 must be available,respectively. While the LED status remains the same, the pulse durationin this case must be between 1 and 255 milliseconds and divisible bytwelve.

According to another aspect of the invention, FIG. 68 shows aproportional plus integral plus derivative (PID) loop object. The PIDloop object is implemented in software at the software object level, asdiscussed previously. Thus, the PID loop object has a database managerwhich manages processes and attributes stored in a storage means of anode or network controller, as do other software objects. Within thefacilities management system, according to the invention, tasks forprocessing PID loops are divided among a PID data base manager task and16 PID loop execution tasks. Thus, a PID controller may control up to 16instances of the PID loop.

FIG. 69 shows a control loop with PID processing. The PID data basemanager first provides an interface to other tasks in the network whichmay read data, e.g. 69-5, from a PID loop, write to a PID loop, orcommand a PID loop. The second PID data base manager task is to scheduleprocessing of each of the 16 instances of PID loops. The thirdresponsibility of the PID data base manager is to execute an auxiliarysignal switch processing, output filter processing, high/low signalselect processing and reliability switch processing in accordance withthe inputs to these processing functions.

As shown in FIG. 68, a PID loop object has six inputs 68-1 which areused by an input conditioning process 68-3 to calculate a feedback valuefor the PID loop. Each of six inputs 68-1 may be floating point valuessuch as analog parameters or references to attributes of other objects,as previously discussed relative to pseudo points. The references toattributes of other objects must be objects in the same physical digitalcontrol module (DCM) functioning as a PID controller. As an analogvalue, the input value or the value on other parts that accommodateanalog values may change as a result of a command from a networkcontroller. As previously discussed, if a port refers to an attribute ofanother object, the value of the attribute is obtained each time thecorresponding processing is executed. This is achieved by sending a readattribute message to the specified object transmitting the messagebetween tasks within the digital control module functioning as thenetwork controller rather than over the N2 bus. It is also possible forports to be individually overridden in which case, the override value isused as the value of the port until a command to release the override isreceived. If a port is an analog value, the last value commanded by thenetwork controller is remembered and acted upon when the command torelease is received. Only the network controller initiates and releasesoverrides.

The setpoint input 68-5 may also be a floating point value or areference to an attribute of another object, as previously discussed.The setpoint value 68-5 is the desired value of the feedback value andit is used in PID processing 68-7.

Offset value 68-9 may be a floating point value or a reference to anattribute of another object. The offset value 68-9 performs twofunctions. If input conditioning processing 68-3 determines that all 6scalers 68-11 are 0, then PID processing 68-7 is disabled and offsetvalue 68-9 is used as the output of PID processing 68-7. If any of the 6scalers 68-11 is not 0, offset value 68-9 is added to the output valuecalculated by PID processing 68-7. The offset 68-9 may be used tointroduce other control actions to the PID processing where it may beused to indicate the first output command the PID processing issues onstart-up.

High saturation limit 68-13 may be a floating point value or a referenceto an attribute of another object. High saturation limit 68-13 is aninput directly to PID processing 68-7. PID processing is prevented fromissuing a command to the PID output above this high saturation limit68-13. Low saturation limit 68-15 may also be a floating point value ora reference to an attribute of another object. A saturation limit 68-15is provided directly to PID processing 68-7 and establishes a lowerlimit below which PID processing 68-7 will not issue a command to thePID output.

Auxiliary signal input 68-17 may be a floating point value or areference to an attribute of another object. The auxiliary signal input68-17 is an alternate input that may be passed on to the output ofauxiliary signal input processing 68-19 discussed below. High/low signalinput 68-21 may be a floating point value or a reference to an output ofan another object in the digital control module functioning as a PIDcontroller and is an alternate input that may be selected for passing onby high/low select signal processing 68-23.

The 8 outputs 68-25 are used to adjust manipulated variables, e.g., of acontrolled process to desired states so that the setpoint and feedbackvariables are equal. The outputs refer to any attribute of any object inthe same physical PID controller. The command from the PID loop isrouted to each of the objects defined in these references. The PIDprocessing also uses this information to determine if the objectspecified by this reference has been overridden by some other task.

Certain parameters are analog values and cannot be overridden. The sixscalers 68-11 are each floating point values to represent coefficientsfor each of the corresponding six inputs 68-11 to input conditioningprocessing 68-3. Sample period 68-27 has a range of 1-32767 seconds anddetermines how often the PID processing 68-7 is executed for a PID loop.Proportional band 68-29 is a floating point value which sets thesensitivity of the PID processing 68-7 to the difference between thefeedback value and the setpoint value (the error). The magnitude of theerror causes a swing in output value. A positive value indicates areverse acting control while a negative value indicates direct actingcontrol. Of course, these controls could be reversed without violatingthe spirit of the invention.

Integral time 68-31 is a floating point value which provides the PIDprocessing sensitivity to the integral of the error. This is the time ittakes the integral term to equal the proportional term given a constanterror. Setting this value to 0.0 removes the integral action from thePID control processing. Derivative weight 68-33 also is a floating pointvalue and gives the PID processing sensitivity to the rate of change ofthe feedback value. This term in conjunction with the integral time andthe proportional band determine the amount of the derivative controlprovided. Setting this value to 0.0 removes derivative action from thePID control processing. Dead band parameter 68-35 is a floating pointvalue which is compared to the absolute value of the difference betweenthe set point and the input conditioned feedback. If this dead bandvalue 68-35 is not exceeded, no error change is considered by the PIDprocessing 68-7. Hysteresis compensation bias 68-37 ranges from 0.0 to100.0 and represents the amount of hysteresis encountered between theoutput point and the feedback point. This proportional value is used tocompensate for process hysteresis.

Feedback value 68-39 is calculated by input conditioning processing 68-3and is a floating point value. PID processing 68-7 attempts to makefeedback value 68-39 equal the setpoint value 68-5. The stored data68-41 includes information from previously iterations of the PIDprocessing 68-7. In the first pass to PID processing 68-7, these valuesare set to 0.0, except for the previous direction value which isinitialized to 1.0. The historical data includes the previous feedbackvalue applied for derivative control, the previous integral termsupplied for integral action and bumpless transfer, the previoushysteresis compensation bias for hysteresis removal, the previous outputvalue for hysteresis removal, and the previous direction of outputvalues for hysteresis removal. The previous direction of output valuesis set equal to one for increasing values and equal to minus one fordecreasing values.

The processing of PID loops is divided among a data base manager taskand 16 PID loop execution tasks. As such, the PID controller digitalcontrol module may control up to 16 instances of PID loops. The PIDdatabase manager task has 3 primary responsibilities. First, to providean interface to other tasks or objects in the PID controller or nodewhich may want to read data from PID loop, write data to a PID loop, orcommand a PID loop. The second task of the PID database manager is toschedule processing upon each of the 16 instances of the PID loop. Thethird responsibility is execution of subsidiary processing which mayinclude auxiliary signal switch processing 68-19, output filterprocessing 68-43, high/low signal select processing 68-23, andreliability switch processing 68-67.

In order to perform these tasks, the PID database manager can react totwo types of write record messages. The first is the ADD LOOP messagewhich adds a PID loop to the database. It also causes the configurationinformation for that loop to be written to an EEPROM so that the loopwill be automatically added once power is returned after a powerfailure. The second type of write record message is the DELETE LOOPmessage. This causes execution of the PID loop to cease and thedefinition of the loop to be disabled. It also causes the objectconnected to the output of the loop to be notified that the loop is nolonger defined.

The PID database manager also accommodates two types of read recordmessages. The READ CONFIGURATION reads record message and causes thecurrent working definition for the given PID loop to be formatted andsent back through the N2 bus to the network controller. The other readrecord message is READ CURRENT STATE. This causes information on thecurrent state of the PID loop along with values used during the lastiteration of the processing to be sent via the N2 communication bus tothe network controller.

START UP causes a PID processing 68-7 to react as if it had just beenadded. All historical data for the processing is reinitialized. Thefirst output from the PID processing will then be based on the currentoffset 68-9 and the correction due to the current proportional control.

A write attribute causes the specified attribute of the given PID loopto be set to the value in the message. This causes the output of the PIDloop to change as a result. A read attribute causes the current value ofthe attribute to be returned to the requestor. If the attribute isoverride, the override value is returned. If the attribute is areference to an attribute of another object, the read attribute messageis redirected to the destination object.

Where valid, an override attribute causes the value in the message totake precedence over the normal value the input would receive until arelease attribute message is received for that attribute. A releaseoverride attribute causes the effect of the override attribute messageto be removed.

The PID database manager also causes reporting of change of states. Suchchange of state reported include changing of a PID loop reliability flag68-45, changing of a high saturation flag 68-47, changing of a lowsaturation flag 68-49, and changing of a PID processing reliability flag68-51. These flags are discussed below.

The primary function of the PID loop database manager is to providescheduling. The PID loop data base manager continuously monitors theamount of time that has elapsed since the last time the PID loop wasprocessed. When the sample period amount of time 68-27 has elapsed, thePID database manager task collects the current state of the ports usedby the PID processing 68-7. To collect the current state of the portsused by PID processing 68-7, the PID data basemanager determines if theport is in an override condition or is defined as an analog value or areference. As previously discussed, if an override, the override valueis used as the value of the port. If the port is an analog value, itsvalue is used, and if the port is a reference, a read attribute messageis sent to the object specified and the value returned is used as thevalue of the port. The PID database manager checks the reliability ofthe data and the response and flags the port as reliable if the datareceived is determined to set that category.

It should be noted that the PID database manager executes a priorityscheme to allow each PID loop to be processed every sample period within15% of its sample period. This is done through a series of PID executivetasks which are each given a different priority. When the definition fora PID loop is added to a PID controller, the PID database managerdetermines which PID executive task will provide the execution for thatPID loop based on the sample period of the PID loop. PID loops withshorter sample periods are assigned higher priority PID executive tasks.PID loops with longer sample periods are assigned to tasks with lowerpriorities. When a PID loop is deleted from the PID controller, the PIDdatabase manager task rearranges the association between PID loops andPID executive tasks according to the sample periods. When the sampleperiod of a loop is changed, the priority of the loops is rearranged.

After collecting the current state the PID executive task also providesany historical data needed. The PID database manager then beginsexecuting input conditioning processing 68-3. Input conditioningprocessing 68-3 provides for input summation, difference, averaging andvarious other accumulative functions or for the instantaneous maximum orminimum of the given inputs. The accumulative function, chosen bysetting the input function attribute 68-1 to 1, is as follows: ##EQU2##

It should be noted that if the input is a reference to an object ofanother attribute and is null, then no point has been specified and ascaler of zero is used. If the scalar is zero then the input is ignored.

The minimum function, chosen by setting the input function attribute68-1 to 2, is as follows:

minimum of

scalar (1) * input value (1) or,

scalar (2) * input value (2) or,

scalar (3) * input value (3) or,

scalar (4) * input value (4) or,

scalar (5) * input value (5) or,

scalar (6) * input value (6)

The maximum function, chosen by setting the input function attribute68-1 to 3 is as follows:

maximum of

scalar (1) * input value (1) or,

scalar (2) * input value (2) or,

scalar (3) * input value (3) or,

scalar (4) * input value (4) or,

scalar (5) * input value (5) or,

scalar (6) * input value (6)

The 16 PID execution tasks are identical and differ only in theirpriorities as discussed above. Upon each iteration of the PID processing68-7, the PID database manager sends one of the PID executive tasks allthe needed data to perform the processing for one of the instances ofthe PID loop. Upon completion of the PID processing, the PID executivetask sends the calculated output 68-53 along with all the updatedintermediate results to the PID database manager task. It should benoted that no data about a PID loop is stored between iterations.

PID processing in general is as follows:

    E(t)=(setpoint(t)-feedback(t))

    Pterm(t)=100*E(t)/Pband

    Iterm(t)=((T/Itime)*Pterm(t))+(1-T/Itime)+Iterm(t-1)

    Dterm(t)=Dweight*(Itime/I)*(100/Pband)*feedback(t-1)--(feedback(t))

    OUT(t)=Pterm(t)+Iterm(t-1)+Dterm(t)+Offset(t)+Hysteresis compensation(t)

Where:

F(t)=The value at time t

F(t-1)=The value at the previous iteration

E(t)=The error at time t

Pterm(t)=The proportional control contribution at time t

Iterm(t)=The integral control contribution at time t

T=The sample period

Dterm(t)=The derivative control contribution at time t

Setpoint(t)=The set point at time t

Feedback(t)=The feedback value at time t

Pband=the proportional term coefficient

Itime=The integral time coefficient

Dweight=The derivative term coefficients

Offset(t)=An externally controlled compensation term

Hysteresis compensation(t)=The action needed to compensate forhysteresis in the system

Whenever the output command from PID processing 68-7 changes directionof travel (that is when the derivative of PID processing output 68-53changes sign) PID processing 68-7 may be configured to compensate forany hysteresis that occurs in the process between the output of the PIDcontroller and the associated input. This is done by adding (orsubtracting) the hysteresis compensation value 68-35 to the output 68-53of PID processing as the direction of travel is increasing (ordecreasing).

Bumpless transfer describes the reaction of PID processing 68-7 ascontrol is transferred from one control method such as human control oranother PID loop, to PID processing 68-7 of this loop. The controlreaction is predictable, and is based on a difference between thefeedback and set point as well as the previous command sent to theoutput just before control was transferred to PID processing 68-7.

Whenever the auxiliary signal switch enable attribute is set, or all theoutputs that might receive the command from PID processing areoverridden, PID processing 68-7 goes into a tracking mode. In thetracking mode, PID processing 68-7 prepares for bumpless transfer bycontinuing to calculate Pterm(t). When one of the outputs is releasedfrom the override condition, or the auxiliary signal switch enableattribute is reset, the PID executive task obtains the value the outputwas commanded to and uses it along with Pterm(t) from the previousiteration to perform the bumpless transfer. In the case of an overridedue to Hand/Off/Auto switch being in the Hand or Off position, this lastcommanded value is available. Therefore, bumpless transfer is notprovided once the switch is returned to the Auto position.

The High and Low Saturation Limit inputs 68-13 and 68-15, typicallyspecified in percent full scale deflection of the output, specify theboundaries which the command to the output of PID processing must staywithin.

PID processing 68-7 provides the facility of determining andannunciating when PID processing has become saturated, that is PIDprocessing can not command the output to reach setpoint. PID processingis determined to be saturated when the command for the output for 40consecutive iterations has been within 1% of the High Saturation Limitvalue 68-13, or the output for 40 consecutive iterations has been within1% of the Low Saturation Limit value 68-15.

Once PID processing has been determined to be saturated, either the HighSaturation Flag 68-47 or the Low Saturation Flag 68-49 is setaccordingly to annunciate the fact. This in turn causes the PID databasetask to issue a change of state message so that functions in the networkcontroller (NC) may act accordingly. These flags are reset once theAuxiliary Signal Enable flag 68-55 is set, or all the outputs are placedin an override condition. Saturation recovery is also provided by PIDprocessing 68-7. The processing is designed so that the integral actiondoes not "windup" once the processing attempts to command the outputbeyond the values specified for the High and Low Saturation Limits68-13, 68-15.

After executing PID processing 68-7, the PID executive task sends amessage back to the PID database manager task containing the new valuefor the PID Output Value attribute 68-53, along with all the updatedintermediate results needed for the next iteration of PID processing forthis PID.

The PIDEXEC task may then call other specialized processing. This callmay suspend the other ongoing processing or it may provide data on thecurrent iterations of the PID processing.

A call to suspend specialized processing is sent when a process loop isdetermined to be unstable, or when it has been determined PID processing68-7 does not have control of the outputs of the PID loop as discussedbelow relative to fault tolerant processing. This condition is indicatedwhen the PID loop is determined to be unreliable, the PID processing isin the tracking mode, or the auxiliary signal switch processing 68-19 iscommanded by the auxiliary signal switch enable attribute 68-55 to passthe Auxiliary signal input 68-17 to output 68-57, or High/Low SignalSelect processing 68-23 has selected the High/Low Signal input 68-21.

If none of the aforementioned conditions exist, then the appropriatedata on the current iteration of the PID algorithm is sent in calls forfurther processing.

It is also possible to by-pass PID processing to insert a signal inplace of the signal 68-53 which normally comes from the output of PIDprocessing 68-7. If all 6 scalers 68-11 are 0, PID processing 68-7 isby-passed and the value of offset 68-9 is used as the PID output valueattribute 68-53.

PID loop object 68-2 further provides that the output of PID loops canbe effected according to the status of auxiliary signal switchprocessing 68-19, output filter processing 68-43 and high/low signalselect processing 68-23. This occurs when the PID database manager taskreceives a write attribute message that changes the input of one ofthese algorithms or the PID executive task for the PID loop has finishedexecution and has sent a message to the PID database manager checking inthe changes it has made to the configuration of the PID loop. Theauxiliary signal switch processing 68-19 examines the state of auxiliarysignal enable flag 68-55. If the flag is set, the value of the auxiliarysignal input 68-17 is passed to auxiliary switch value attribute 68-57.If auxiliary signal input 68-17 is unreliable, the last reliableauxiliary switch value 68-17 is passed on. If the auxiliary switchenable flag 68-55 is reset, the value of the PID output value attribute68-53 is passed to the auxiliary switch value attribute 68-57.

Output filter processing 68-43 receives its value from auxiliary switchvalue attribute 68-57 and performs a first order filtering upon thevalue. The output is placed in the output filter value attribute 68-59.Filter weight attribute 68-61 is used to define the effectiveness of thefilter and has a range of 1.0 to +10²³, wherein a filter weight of 1.0effectively disables the filtering. Filtering is performed according tothe following equation:

    Output filter value=previous filter value+((1/filter weight)*(PID output value-previous filter value)).

The previous filter value is the value calculated in the last iteration.The above equation is calculated every sample period or every time theauxiliary signal input 68-17 is changed or every time the offset 68-9 ischanged when all the scalers are 0. If a previous filter value does notexist because the previous iteration's data was unreliable, or becauseit is the first pass through the processing for this instance, theauxiliary switch value 68-57 is passed directly to the output filtervalue attribute 68-59. The last reliable output filter value attribute68-59 is issued to the output filter value if there is a math errorwhile calculating the filter output.

High/low select processing 68-23 compares the output filter valueattribute 68-59 with the value of the high/low signal input 68-21. Ifthe high/low select state attribute 68-63 is set, the greater of the twoinputs is passed to the high/low select value attribute 68-65. If thehigh/low select state attribute 68-63 is reset, the lesser of the twoinputs 68-21 and 68-59 is passed on. In the event that the high/lowsignal input 68-21 is unreliable, the PID loop unreliable flag will beset and the high/low select value attribute 68-65 will remain at itslast reliable value. The high/low select flag attribute 68-63 is setwhen the high/low signal input 68-21 is selected. A change in the stateof this flag causes a report to be sent over the N2 bus.

Reliability switch processing 68-67 reflects the reliability of thecommands issued to the outputs 68-25 of the PID loop. During processingfor the PID loop, should the input data for any of the PID loops becomeunreliable, the output of the processing remains at the last reliableoutput value for the loop. In addition, the PID loop reliability flag68-45 is set to be unreliable whenever the data supplied by the high/lowsignal attributes 68-65 is unreliable. This flag is also set to anunreliable state when any of the following conditions occur:

1. If the condition of the auxiliary signal enable flag 68-55 is set toroute the auxiliary signal input 68-17 to the outputs of the PID loop,and the auxiliary signal input 68-17 is unreliable.

2. If the PID output attribute 68-53 is routed through the auxiliarysignal switch processing 68-19 and the calculations used to generate thePID output attribute 68-53 are determined unreliable. These calculationsare deemed unreliable when any of the ports used by the PID processing68-7 receives unreliable data or when a math error, such as a divisionby 0, has occurred during the calculation.

Following the execution of the high/low signal select processing 68-23,the PID database checks the PID loop reliability flag 68-45. If thisflag is reliable, the PID database issues the output command to theoutput specified for the given PID loop definition. If the PID loop isunreliable, and the unreliable response selector flag 68-69 is reset,the PID database manager issues the last reliable output command fromthe high/low signal select processing 68-23 to the output. Otherwise, itissues the command specified by reliability default attribute 68-71 tothe output.

The PID database manager task sends the write attribute command to theappropriate object database manager specified by the output valueattribute 68-73. The following values are supplied by the PID processing68-7 on completion of execution. The PID database manager task ensuresthat the current PID loop database reflects these changes.

The PID output value is the command to be issued to the output pointwhich drives the controlled variable toward the setpoint value. It maybe thought of as percent of full scale between 0.0 and 100% deflection.The PID processing reliability flag 68-51 is either a 0 or 1 andindicates whether an error in the calculation has occurred or one of theports used by the PID processing 68-7 is unreliable. The PID loopreliability flag 68-45 is either a 0 or 1 wherein 0 indicates that thecommand being sent to the outputs of the PID loop is based on reliabledata.

Additional loop parameters are returned for the next execution of thePID processing 68-7. These parameters include the feedback value forderivative control, the integral term for integral action and bumplesstransfer, the hysteresis compensation bias for hysteresis removal, theoutput value for hysteresis removal and the direction of the outputvalues (increasing=1, decreasing=-1 for hysteresis removal, the previousfeedback value and the error calculated between the setpoint and thefeedback value).

A Facilities Management System (FMS) can provide a pre-defined set offeatures which provide facilities such as energy management,interlocking, calculated points, and other building control algorithms.Often either subtle or sometimes major changes to these algorithms arerequired for a particular site. New applications or unusual applicationsnot covered by the standard features may also need to be accommodated.In these cases it is necessary to provide the means for a user or branchengineer to implement customized control algorithms not covered by thestandard features.

A programming language to specify building control algorithms providesthe user flexibility in coding customized control algorithms. The choiceof a commonly known language, BASIC, as a base to build on is importantsince it allows users to write in a familiar language. Since typicalBASIC cannot efficiently accommodate a Facilities Management System, anew language has been developed using BASIC as a starting point. AddingFMS extensions to the language makes it a building control language.Language extensions include, but are not limited to, the following:

ability to read attributes of objects in the FMS (for example, to readthe value of a sensor)

ability to write to an actuator from the language (LET and TELLstatements)

ability to trigger processing execution from a change in a sensor

ability to execute processing periodically (PERIOD)

ability to have processing wait a specified amount of time (WAIT)

ability to output a user advisory from within a processing segment(ADVISORY)

ability to output a summary from within a processing segment

ability to abort processing

ability to access current time/day/date

pre-defined FMS-related constants such as ON, OFF, ALARM, etc.

FMS-related functions--SPAN, RAMP, FILTER, Enthalpy, Wet Bulb, RelativeHumidity, PI₋₋ Reset

Additional concepts have been introduced in several language statements.In conventional programming languages, the capability to maintain orremember data values is done through variables. A new dimensionaccording to the invention is remembering values in the statementsthemselves. That is, a plurality of executable statements in thelanguage remember a value(s) from one execution of the statement to thenext. Three examples would be:

a. FIRST PASS in the complex IF statement--this allows the programmer toperform initialization code once whenever a condition in the systemchanges.

b. A differential compare operator--allows the user to make a comparisonwhich is not only based on current values but on the history of theprevious comparison.

c. A PI₋₋ RESET function also remembers values from one execution to thenext.

Another facilities management aspect according to the invention is theability to trigger execution of a user algorithm based on a change to anelement in the system such as a sensor or alarm value. In particular,when any triggerable attribute of any object changes it can trigger anindividual algorithm(s). The language is unique in that it willautomatically sign-up for these changes when such an attribute isreferenced. The user need not specifically request this sign-up.

In a further extension of the transparency concepts discussed above, thelanguage is transparent to the objects in the FMS because it isindependent of the type of controllers or points on the system. This isachieved by defining a "generic" interface to objects in the system.Reading of data values is accomplished through the name of the objectand the name of the data field to be read. For example, the outdoor airtemp would be AHU1 OUTDOOR VALUE. This mechanism is the same for allobjects so new objects may be added to the system without changing thelanguage.

Similarly, writing of values is accomplished through another transparentmechanism, the LET statement. For example, to assign a new differentialto an analog point the following statement is used,

    LET `AHU1 TEMP DIFF`=5.0

Commanding of objects is also transparent. There is one statement typefor sending commands to all objects. For example:

    TELL `AHU1 FAN` TO "START"

The handling of unreliable information as previously discussed is alsoaccomplished by the language. The language attaches a reliability flagto every piece of data it handles. It carries this flag throughcalculations so that the results of a calculation are only reliable ifall inputs are reliable. Furthermore, if the language receives anunreliable value from the system it can automatically replace that valuewith the last reliable value for that piece of data. The language alsoprovides a function for the user to query whether any given piece ofdata is reliable or not.

The concept of shared variables is another aspect of the invention. Thelanguage provides the means for two or more programs or processes in thesame controller to share a value. They may all read and update thisvalue. It is treated like any other named variable in the language. Inaddition, a change to a Boolean shared variable can be used to trigger aprogram or process.

The ability to multi-process user-defined processes generated in thelanguage exists because each controller may contain many processes whichcan each be executing independent of the other processes. Thus, thelanguage implements a prioritized multi-tasking scheme which resemblesparallel processing.

In addition, the language treats time data the same as any other datatype such as integer or Boolean. That is, time is considered a data typeof its own. It has its own variables, its own constants (i.e.,10:21:33), and its own operators (to add, subtract, compare etc. timevalues). Current time-of-day can be read by an algorithm.

The language also has a PI₋₋ RESET function which is designed to reset asetpoint by means of a programmed proportional-integral calculation. Itis designed for use in closed loop systems.

The control system shown generally in FIG. 69 has an input device 69-3which receives inputs along line 69-5 and generates control variablesalong line 69-7, often known as a feedback variable. A control variableon line 69-7 provides an input to a proportional plus integral plusderivative (PID) device for object 69-9 and to an object 69-11 whichprovides a fault tolerant control strategy. In the present context,typical objects include hardware and software combinations which performfunctions desirable for a control loop. Such objects are typicallyimplemented in software and stored in a memory portion of one or moreautomated processing control nodes 69-2 operating as a network. Theorganization of a system having hardware and software objects accordingto the present invention has previously been discussed.

The PID loop 69-4 is typically structured to operate under normalcircumstances without assistance from the fault tolerant controlstrategy object 69-11 in control node 69-2. PID object 69-9 generatesand receives PID loop variables 69-13 and also provides inputs andreceives outputs from fault tolerant control strategy object 69-11. ThePID output on line 69-15 is routed both to the fault tolerant controlstrategy object 69-11 and to switch 69-17. The output on line 69-19 ofswitch 69-17 can thus be switched between the PID output and the outputof the fault tolerant control strategy object 69-21 based on command online 69-23 also generated by the fault tolerant output control strategy.The fault tolerant strategy of object 69-11 also receives processconstants on line 69-25 and another output on line 69-27 generated byinput device 69-29 which receives input signal 69-31.

The output device driving command on line 69-19 from switch 69-17constitutes a manipulated variable driving output device 69-33 whichgenerates a related manipulated variable on line 69-35. The relatedmanipulated variable on line 69-35 is input to process 69-37 whichcompletes the control loop by generating signals on lines 69-5 and 69-31to input devices 69-3 and 69-29.

The purpose of the control loop is to generate manipulated variables onlines 69-19 and 69-35 to control the output device and to accomplish thedesired process 69-37. In normal operation, PID control is accomplishedand switch 69-17 is set via signal 69-23 to PID output line 69-15. Thus,the fault tolerant control strategy object 69-11 merely monitors thestatus of control variable on line 69-9 and does not participate in theactual control of the loop.

Fault tolerant control strategy object 69-11 monitors control variableon line 69-7 to verify that the control variable is within a reliablerange of values. When fault tolerant strategy object 69-11 determinesthat control variable on line 69-7, the feedback variable, is no longerwithin the reliable range, the fault tolerant control strategy object69-11 directs switch 69-17 to route to the output device command signalon line 69-19, the fault tolerant control strategy object output 69-21.This is done via switch command line 69-23. At this point, based onprocess constants on lines 69-25 and signals 69-27, the fault tolerantcontrol strategy object 69-11 implements a strategy which allows therelated manipulated variable on line 69-35 to continue to be adjustedeven though the feedback, the control variable on line 69-7, is nolonger reliable. Thus, the loss of feedback in the PID control loop doesnot result in the loss of control over output device 69-33 or relatedmanipulated variable on line 69-35.

Through input device 69-29 which monitors signals on line 69-31 fromprocess 69-37, the fault tolerant strategy object 69-11 responds todynamic changes in process 69-37 along with process constant 69-25 togenerate signals to control the manipulated variables on lines 69-19 and69-35. Thus, even under a failed condition, it is possible to retain alevel of control over process 69-37 which minimizes the effect of thefailure.

In one example, the fault tolerant control strategy addresses thetypical HVAC processes including heating, cooling, and mixed airdischarge temperature control.

FIG. 70 shows phases of implementing a fault tolerant control strategy.These include commissioning 70-1, initialization 70-3, processmonitoring 70-5 and control 70-7.

FIG. 71 outlines inputs and outputs of the process which takes place inimplementing a fault tolerant control strategy. During initialcommissioning 71-301 the fault tolerant control strategy object isinformed where parameters are stored in a memory accessible to the faulttolerant control strategy object 69-11, and what parameters areimportant to the process being controlled. For example, air temperatureand flow rate parameters may be used to determine if, for example, achilled water valve should be open or closed. Thus, initialcommissioning identifies the variables which are used in the faulttolerant control strategy.

In a fault tolerant controller used in an HVAC system, there are threeclasses of information or parameters. The first is a static set ofvariables 71-303 which is the same for each PID loop. These include thesetpoint, a proportional band, and the control variable. A second set ofparameters are process variables 71-305 which are the actual analoginputs obtained. These differ depending on the HVAC process 71-307. Forexample, some HVAC processes require outdoor air temperature whileothers require water temperature or pressure. Finally, there are processconstants 71-309 which are PID loop dependent as a result of theirdependency on physical devices used to monitor system performance. Inimplementing a fault tolerant control strategy object, it is alsonecessary to provide information concerning the configuration of the PIDloop. This can be done either by programming the fault tolerant controlstrategy in a programming language or as a user block of a graphicalprogramming tool 71-311. In either case, the routine is added to acontrol system database which can be accessed by the fault tolerantcontrol strategy object and executed in a control node.

During initialization phase 71-313, a routine in the fault tolerantcontrol strategy object 69-11 collects data concerning the processconstants and the static PID loop and performs a stabilization check71-315. As previously indicated, the constants can be hard coded andneed only be read into the fault tolerant control strategy object once.The three classes of PID loop parameters represent the most recent stateof the controlled process. The commissioning phase previously discussedprovides the information on where these parameters are located inmemory. During initialization, the parameters are read by the faulttolerant control strategy software object. Initialization then verifiesthat a set of reliable static parameters 71-317 required for processcontrol can be obtained. This is because a full set of reliable PIDstatic data is necessary to allow execution of a fault tolerant controlstrategy.

Initialization phase 71-313 verifies stabilization of the PID loopcontrol, rather than the variables or parameters. A PID loop is stableif the controlled variable remains close to the setpoint andfluctuations in the manipulated variable are small. As part of theinitialization phase 71-313, predetermined numerical measures ofoscillation and sluggishness 71-319 are evaluated against theperformance of the control loop.

During the monitor phase 71-321, the fault tolerant control strategyobject 69-11 presumes stable process control and updates the static PIDvariables and the process variables. The primary function performedduring the monitor phase is evaluation of the reliability of the controlvariable 69-7 or feedback of the PID loop. This may be based on severalphysical analog inputs in the PID loop itself if, for example, thefeedback is multidimensional. If this feedback, the control variable online 69-7, goes unreliable, then the control mode of operation isentered. It should be also noted that it is not absolutely necessary tomonitor the actual feedback or control variable. Control variable 69-7may be the output of a software object generating the control variable.In this case, the control variable is defined to be unreliable when anyof the inputs to the software object generating the control variablebecome unreliable. Thus, if an analog input to the software objectgenerating the control variable is detected to have become open orshorted, or if a non-legitimate value is generated during datamanipulation in the software object (e.g., dividing by zero), then thefault tolerant control strategy assumes that the control variable 69-7or the feedback has become unreliable.

When the control function is entered, the fault tolerant controlstrategy object 69-11 calculates the value to be used in place of thevalue generated by the PID algorithm. As indicated previously, this isbasically an open loop control based on a model of the system and thecurrent state of the variables. There need be no requirement oflinearity between the process variables and the calculated outputcommand. Since the system responds to the current state of the process69-37, it is also possible to respond to changes in the setpoint, asshown in the equation given below.

It should be noted that the fault tolerant control strategy object 69-11may attempt to execute control at the same rate as the PID controller.However, in most cases, control will be slower due to limitations ofnetwork performance. As previously indicated, fault tolerant controlstrategy object 69-11 is ordinarily implemented in a control node andnot in the PID device which is part of the loop. Thus, multiplecommunications over a local bus between the PID loop and the controlnode, and perhaps over a network bus interconnecting multiple controlnodes increase loop response time under fault tolerant controlstrategies.

As previously discussed, a fault tolerant control strategy can be basedin part on a model of the control process. The fault tolerant controllerblock executes once every twenty sampling periods of the PID controller.The process monitor and output switch functions execute once eachsampling interval of the PID controller. In one system configurationshown in FIG. 72, the functions of the process monitor 72-1 and outputswitch 72-5 can be implemented directly in a Digital Control Module 72-5while the fault tolerant controller functions are implemented in theNetwork Controller 72-7.

Various variables required to implement a fault tolerant controlstrategy are listed in Table 1.

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                        Inputs                                                                        1.    SP:       Setpoint Variable (reference variable)                        2.    CV:       Controlled Variable (feedback variable)                       3.    MV1:      Primary Manipulated Variable (control                                         output variable)                                              4.    MV2:      Secondary Manipulated Variable                                                (Interacting control output variable)                         5.    PV1:      Primary Process Variable (feedforward                                         variable #1)                                                  6.    PV2:      Secondary Process Variable (feedforward                                       variable #2)                                                  7.    PB:       Controller Proportional Band                                  8.    AT:       Controller Sampling Period                                    9.    OUTHI:    Controller High Saturation Limit                              10.   OUTLO:    Controller Low Saturation Limit                               11.   BAND:     Controller Error Tolerance                                    Outputs                                                                       1.    FLAG:     Fault-Tolerant Enable Flag                                    2.    BACKUP:   Fault-Tolerant Output                                         Local Variables                                                               1.    CVo:      Reference Controlled Variable                                 2.    MV1o:     Reference Primary Manipulated Variable                        3.    MV2o:     Reference Secondary Manipulated                                               Variable                                                      4.    PV1o:     Reference Primary Process Variable                            5.    PV2o:     Reference Secondary Process Variable                          6.    PBo:      Reference Controller Proportional Band                        ______________________________________                                    

FIG. 78 is a more detailed illustration of the fault tolerant control ofthe invention. PID controller 78-1, process monitor 78-3 and faulttolerant controller 78-5 all receive the setpoint SP and controlvariable CV. PID controller 78-1, process monitor 78-3 and faulttolerant controller 78-5 all perform individual processing which isdiscussed in more detail below. Based on conditions in the system, faulttolerant controller 78-5 generates a flag output which is routed to anoutput switch 78-7. In addition, fault controller 78-5 generates abackup output which is also routed to the output switch 78-7. The backupoutput is determined by the following equation:

    MV1=MV1.sub.0 +EFF*(MV2-MV2.sub.0)+(100%/PB.sub.0)*(SP-CV.sub.0 +(EFF-1)*(PV1-PV1.sub.0)-EFF*(PV2-PV2.sub.0));

with EFF being limited to a range of 20%-80%

The other input to the output switch is manipulated variable MV1produced in PID controller 78-1. Under normal circumstances, i.e. whenthe system is not experiencing a fault, fault tolerant controller 78-5sets a flag to output switch 78-7, such that the output of switch 78-7is a primary manipulated variable from the PID controller 78-1.Generally, the manipulated variable corresponds to one output of a PIDprocess as shown in FIG. 69. When a fault condition exists in thesystem, the flag causes the output switch 78-7 to route the backupsignal from fault tolerant controller 78-5 to its output. As shown inFIG. 69, the output of the switch can be used to drive an output device.Thus, a failure in the process control loop is accommodated by the faulttolerant controller, so that the output device remains operational, evenif in a degraded state.

FIGS. 79A and 79B illustrate processing that takes place in processmonitor 78-3. Typically, the process monitor operates in a digitalcontrol module. A network controller typically executes the process 20times slower than the monitor rate possible at the digital controlmodule. Thus, processing is different in the process monitor dependingon whether or not a complete execution has taken place in the networkcontroller. Prior to initiating processing, it is first determined intest block 79-73 if the control variable is reliable, as discussedherein. If not, the variables shown in block 79-71 are set and controlis returned to test block 79-73. In test block 79-1 the process monitorfirst determines if the interval is greater than or equal to 20 timesthe process rate in the digital control module. If this is not the case,the manipulated variable is tested as shown in blocks 79-3 and 79-5 todetermine if it exceeds maximum and minimum outputs which have alreadybeen detected and stored by the monitor process. If the manipulatedvariable is beyond these stored values, then the appropriate maximum andminimum output is set equal to the manipulated variable in functionblocks 79-7 and 79-9. In either case, in function block 79-11, an errorvalue is determined to be the absolute value of the setpoint minus thecontrol variable. As shown in function blocks 79-13 and 79-15, if thepresent error exceeds a maximum error previously monitored by theprocess, the maximum error is set equal to the present error.

The above process continues to repeat until the interval is determinedto exceed 20 times the processing time of the digital control module infunction block 79-1. At this point, control transfers to other functionblocks which determine whether or not the system is saturated andwhether or not the output is stable. If the maximum output as previouslydetermined during processing previously discussed exceeds one percentless than the output high defined for the process as shown in block79-73, a high saturation variable is incremented. If not, the variableis set equal to zero as shown in function blocks 79-19 and 79-21.Similarly, if the minimum output as previously described is beyond thepredefined limit of an output low variable, as shown in block 79-23, alow saturation flag is either incremented or set equal to zero, as shownin function blocks 79-25 and 79-29. At function block 79-31, it isdetermined if either of the saturation variables exceeds one. If so, asaturation flag is set "true" as shown in block 79-33 and if not, asaturation flag is set "false," as shown in function block 79-35.

Processing in the process monitor then proceeds to identify the numberof deviations beyond specific percentages of the range of high and lowoutputs. For example, function block 79-37 determines if the differencesbetween the maximum output and minimum output of the process exceeds 15%of the high and low outputs allowed. If not, a deviation variable is setequal to zero in function block 79-41. However, if the difference doesexceed 15% of the allowed difference between the high and low outputs,the deviation variable is incremented as shown in function block 79-39.Similarly, function blocks 79-43, 79-45, and 79-47 show a counting ofthe deviations from 9% while function blocks 79-49, 79-51, and 79-53show how deviations beyond 5% are counted. It should be noted that sincethe deviation variables are reset to zero each time the differencebetween the maximum and minimum outputs is within the specified range,the deviation counts are incremented only in the case of consecutivevariations beyond the specified range.

Function block 79-55 is used to determine whether or not the process isstable. If there have been more than nine counts of deviations greaterthan 5% or five counts of deviations from 9% or three counts ofdeviations greater than 15%, function block 79-57 sets a STABLE variableto a "false" state. This indicates that the system is not stable. Ifthese deviations are within the acceptable ranges, then function block79-59 compares the maximum error with a band variable which defines anacceptable range of error. Again, if the maximum error is out of therange specified by the band variable, the process is considered to beunstable otherwise, the process is considered stable as shown infunction block 79-61. Function block 79-63 resets the variables beforereturning control in function block 79-65 to the process monitorexecutive. It should be noted that the output minimum and maximum aretypically set to 100% and 0% respectively. This assumes that themanipulated variable is provided in the form of a percent of full scaledeflection. However, any other arrangement for adjusting a manipulatedvariable would be within the spirit of the invention.

FIG. 80 illustrates processing in a fault tolerant controller object. Asshown in function block 80-1, if the interval previously discussed hasnot expired, function block 80-3 merely updates the interval and nofurther processing takes place. However, if the interval has expired,fault tolerant control processing occurs. First, the interval is resetto zero as shown in function block 80-5. Next, a reliability status ofthe control variable is tested in function block 80-7. When the statusof the control variable is reliable, fault tolerant control processingthen checks to determine if the output is saturated as shown in functionblock 80-9. If this is the case, the output is considered stable and nofurther fault tolerant processing occurs. If the output is notsaturated, then the routine moves to function block 80-11 which checksthe status of the STABLE variable previously calculated by the processmonitor as discussed relative to FIGS. 79A and 79B. If the STABLEvariable is not "true", no further processing takes place. However, ifthe STABLE variable is "true", function block 80-13 determines if thedata is reliable. If so, it sets the reference variables of the controlvariable, primary and secondary manipulated variables MV1 and MV2,primary and secondary process variables PV1 and PV2, and theproportional band PB equal to the current corresponding values of thevariables. Thus, the fault tolerant controller receives the mostup-to-date values of these variables. The flag is set to FALSE as shownin function block 80-27 and control is transferred to function block80-1 to test the interval.

In function block 80-7, if the control variable status is determined tobe unreliable, the fault tolerant control processing then examines thedata. If the data is reliable, the setpoint, the primary and secondaryprocess variables, and the secondary manipulated variable are set equalto the current values in function block 80-15. In function block 80-17,efficiency variable EFF is set equal to the reference primarymanipulated variable stored in the object, limited in value to between20 and 80% rather than over the full 0-100% range as indicated infunction block 80-19. Function block 80-21 then calculates the backupvalue which will be transmitted to output switch 78-7. The equation forcalculating the backup variable is shown in function block 80-21. As theequation indicates, the backup variable is a combination of the primarymanipulated variable stored in the object as modified by the secondarymanipulated variables in percentages of the stored proportional band.Function block 80-23 shows that the backup is limited to fall betweenthe low and high outputs specified in the object for the process beingcontrolled. In function block 80-25 the flag is then set "true" todirect output switch 78-7 to route the backup signal to its output.Fault tolerant control processing then returns to function block 80-1.

FIG. 81 illustrates output switch processing. In FIG. 81, if the flag istrue in function block 81-1, the output signal is set to be the backupon the switch as determined in function block 81-3. However, if the flaghas not been set true by fault tolerant controller 78-5, and functionblock 81-5 determines if the status of the control variable is notreliable. If the control variable is not reliable, the output at theswitch is then routed to a previous or old value of the manipulatedvariable, as shown in function block 81-7. If the status of themanipulated variable is shown in function block 81-5 to be reliable, theold manipulated variable is replaced with a new manipulated variable andthe output is set equal to the new manipulated variable in functionblocks 81-9 and 81-11. Otherwise an old value of the manipulatedvariable is used. This terminates processing of the switch.

As a result of the above described processing, it is possible for aprocess control loop to maintain operation in a degraded state even ifthe feedback variable has become unreliable, an output is unstable or anerror is outside of allowable limits.

FIG. 73 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of a universalanalog output circuit. In analog output circuit 73-1, an analog outputfrom a D/A converter is provided to summing node 73-3 where it is summedwith feedback signal 73-5, which is based on the positive output of theanalog output device 73-1. The output of the summing junction is routedthrough buffer 73-7 to sample and hold circuit 73-9. Sample and holdcircuit 73-9 samples the buffered analog signal in accordance withsignal 73-11, AO_(n). The output of sample and hold circuit 73-9 thenserves as an input to summing junction 73-13 which also receivesfeedback signal 73-5.

Because sample and hold circuit 73-9 is responsive to signal 73-11,AO_(n), it is possible to reduce overall system cost by connecting oneD/A converter to multiple analog output circuit units as shown in FIG.74. In FIG. 74, single D/A converter 74-30 is connected to analog outputcircuit units 74-32, 74-34, 74-36 and 74-38. These four units are forillustration purposes only, as any number of units may be employedcompatible with the drive capabilities of the D/A converter 74-30. Eachof units 74-32 through 74-38 are the same as the analog output circuit73-1 shown in FIG. 73. Since each unit 74-32 through 74-38 is connectedto a different AO_(n) signal, proper sequencing of the AO_(n) signalsallows the output of D/A converter 74-30 to be applied sequentially orsimultaneously to various analog output units. Thus, the incorporationof sample and hold circuit 73-9 connected to command signal AO_(n) as anintegral part of the feedback network in FIG. 73 provides an inherentmultiplexing capability.

Returning to FIG. 73, the output of summing junction 73-13 is providedto amplifier 73-15 which is connected to current sensing circuit 73-17.The output of current sensing network 73-17 forms the positive output ofthe analog output circuit 73-1. Depending on the requirements of thedevice to be driven, this output can be either a voltage or a current.The output of the current sensing network 73-17 is further routed toinverter amplifier 73-19 which is connected to balancing network 73-21.Balancing network 73-21 operates to produce at the negative output ofanalog output circuit 73-1, a mirror image of the signal appearing atthe positive output. Thus, if the positive output is a positive going 5volt signal, the negative output will be a negative going 5 volt signalresulting in a 10 volt differential output signal. Similarly, if thepositive output is a 5 mA current source, the negative output will be a5 mA current sink.

The output from current sensing network 73-17 is also used to generatefeedback signal 73-5. Since summing junction 73-3 is a voltage summingnode, feedback signal 73-5 must be a voltage. When the positive outputof the analog output circuit 73-1 is a voltage signal, the signalAOSET_(n) routed to switch 73-23 opens the switch. As a result,amplifier 73-25 is removed from the circuit and the voltage output fromcurrent sensing network 73-17 is routed only through feedback circuit73-27 to generate feedback signal 73-5. When the positive output fromthe analog output circuit 73-1 is a current output, the signal AOSET_(n)closes switch 73-23, inserting amplifier 73-25 into the circuit. Thisresults in generating a feedback signal 73-5 based on amplifier 73-25and feedback network 73-27. Thus, feedback signal 73-5 is a voltagefeedback even though the positive output of analog output unit 73-1 is acurrent signal.

As shown in FIG. 75, the same approach to creating a balanceddifferential output signal can be used to form an analog output unit75-2 without the sample and hold circuitry. Thus, the same currentsensing network 73-17, balancing network 73-21, and feedback network73-27 previously described can be used in fully analog systems such asservos, audio systems, or other analog control loops.

FIG. 76 is a schematic version of the block diagram discussed in FIG.73. In FIG. 76, a voltage, e.g. from a D/A converter, applied to ANAOUTis buffered by amplifier 76-401 and stored on capacitors 76-403 whenswitch 76-405 is closed. Capacitor 76-403 is also connected to commonground ACOM. When switch 76-405 is open, the voltage stored on thecapacitor is held until switch 76-405 is again closed. At that time anew voltage will be stored on capacitor 76-403. It should also be notedthat other known sample and hold discharge circuits may be employed toremove the voltage on capacitor 76-403 prior to sampling a new voltage.

Voltage stored on capacitor 76-403 is buffered by amplifier 76-407 whoseoutput is connected to a common emitter output stage formed bytransistor 76-409 and resistors 76-411 and 76-413. The common emitterconfiguration is employed to take advantage of the high collector tobase reverse breakdown voltage. As configured, misapplication of largevoltages to the output will not destroy the circuit even though controlwill be lost for the duration of the misapplied voltage. The collectorof transistor 76-409 is applied to current sensing resistor 76-415,whose output forms the positive output of the analog output device. Thepositive output voltage is sensed through resistor 76-417 and feedbackresistor 76-419 by amplifier 76-421 configured in a standard invertingconfiguration. Amplifier 76-421 drives a negative output stage formed bytransistor 76-423 and resistors 76-425 and 76-427. This output stage isalso configured as a common emitter stage having complementarycharacteristics to the circuit driving the positive output. Resistor76-429 completes the mirror image circuit forming the negative output.Thus, the output from the system is the difference between the positiveoutput and the negative output. It should be noted that by connecting aload between the positive and negative output of the analog outputdevice, the signal to the load is independent of ground loop currents ornoise induced on common ground. This is a direct result of the balancedimpedance nature of the outputs whereby induced noise, including groundloop currents, appears as differential voltage of zero (0) volts acrossthe load.

If the analog output circuit is a voltage driver, the voltage across theload (the differential between the positive output and the negativeoutput) remains constant and the output current is a variable functionof the load. On the other hand, if the analog output is configured as acurrent driver, the output current to the load (the current source bythe positive output and the current sunk by the negative output) remainsconstant and the voltage is a variable function of the load. SignalAOSETn is set to open or close a switch 76-435 depending on the natureof the output.

For voltage output applications, the positive output voltage is fed backto amplifier 76-401 through resistors 76-431 and 76-433. SignalAOSET_(n) connected to switch 76-435 is set such that switch 76-435 isopen. Thus, the output from amplifier 76-437 is out of the circuit andthe control loop is closed through resistors 76-431 and 76-433. Thefeedback is routed both to amplifier 76-401 and amplifier 76-407. Thus,if switch 76-405 remains open, loop control is still maintained based onthe stored voltage on capacitor 76-403 and the feedback to amplifier76-407. The feedback provides fast storage response times and anaccurate output voltage level. In current output applications, AOSET_(n)is activated to cause switch 76-435 to close. This puts amplifier 76-437and resistors 76-439 and 76-441 into the circuit as an non-invertingamplifier. Rather than sampling the output voltage directly, thefeedback is a voltage that is the result of the current flowing throughoutput resistor 76-415. The voltage drop across resistor 76-415 issensed by amplifier 76-437 and delivered through switch 76-435 toamplifiers 76-401 and 76-407 as the feedback signal. Since this feedbackvoltage is a direct function of the output current through resistor76-415, the output voltage is adjusted both at the positive output andthe negative output to cause the required amount of output current to bedriven at the output. Thus, the transfer functions for the circuit areas follows:

    voltage output (switch 76-435 open): V out=2×V.sub.in

    current output (switch 435 closed) I out=V.sub.in

divided by the value of resistor 76-415;

where V_(in) =the voltage across capacitor 76-403.

Finally, the positive and negative outputs are topologically identical.That is, they have the same output configuration, both using commonemitter transistor drivers, which are the inverse of each other. Thus,the impedance looking into either stage is nearly identical (balanced)with respect to the circuit common or common ground.

Thus the circuit provides balanced differential output impedance forvoltage outputs and balanced differential output impedance for currentoutputs in addition to allowing the selection of either a balancedvoltage output or a balanced current output. The balanced output designprovides high common mode noise rejection and the common emitter outputconfiguration provides high normal mode voltage protection.

In order to reduce overall energy consumption, systems, such asfacilities management systems, perform load rolling and demand limiting,which attempt to manage load induced energy consumption over time. Theenergy consumption is managed, for example, with a processor and ameter, and energy consuming load devices, or loads, are selectivelydeactivated, or shed. According to one aspect of the invention, loadshedding can be a high level feature of a first node which operates toshed loads or elements of loads controlled by one or more other nodes ofthe system. It is also possible for a node to manage energy consumptionfrom multiple sources. For example, in one embodiment a node supportingload shedding features monitors four energy meters. The nodes whichsupport operation of the loads and load elements receive load sheddingcommands from the node supporting the load shedding feature. Inresponse, the nodes receiving the commands deactivate the selectednodes.

Dependance on communications between the node supporting the loadshedding feature and the nodes supporting the loads is eliminated byincorporating a restore task into each of the load specific nodes. Forexample, in FIG. 77, first node 77-1 contains a high level load rollingsoftware feature 77-3 which is responsive to system energy consumptionmonitored by meter 77-5. Based on the level of energy consumptionmonitored, load rolling feature 77-3 determines the required reductionin energy consumption. This is compared against energy consumptionvalues in load table 77-7 to identify one or more currently active loadswhich can be shed to achieve the desired energy reduction. Load rollingfeature 77-3 then issues a command on high speed N1 bus 77-9 which isread by other nodes 77-11 and/or node 77-13. It should be noted that thecommunication protocol used between the nodes is not a factor accordingto this aspect of the invention. For example, the command from firstnode 77-1, could be directed to one or more specific nodes or could bebroadcast to all nodes on the high speed bus 77-9.

Nodes receiving load shed commands from load rolling features processthe commands and deactivate the loads identified. For example, secondnode 77-11 would deactivate one or both of loads 77-15 and 77-17 whilethird node 77-13 would deactivate either or both of nodes 77-19 and77-21. First node 77-1 could also issue commands to shed loads from morethan one node, if that is required to achieve the desired energyconsumption and does not violate any other rules programmed to prohibitdeactivating specific combinations of loads.

In addition to deactivating the loads, second and third nodes 77-11 and77-13 perform local processing to restore the loads to operation at anappropriate time. Performing such processing locally relieves thisresponsibility from first node 77-11 containing the load rollingfeature. This allows node 77-1 additional time for processing othertasks and improves system reliability by assuring the load is restored,even if the node which deactivated the load loses communication with thenode containing the load rolling feature. Because load restoreprocessing is localized in the node controlling the load, loadrestoration is independent of the feature and failure of thecommunications link 77-9 or first node 77-1 or downloading newinformation into first node 77-1 before the load is restored does notpreclude the load from being restored to operation.

Localized load restore processing is accomplished by defining objectswith attributes that follow shed and restore characteristics rather thanby incorporating these characteristics into the load shedding process,as in previous systems. Localized restore processing distributesprocessing of high level load shedding features. For example, attributes77-23, 77-25 of software objects 77-27, 77-29 in nodes 77-11 and 77-13describe the shedding and restoration characteristics of loads 77-15,77-17 and 77-19, 77-21, respectively. Typically, such restoration andshedding characteristics include maximum off times, minimum on timesafter activation of the load and certain safety features. For example, acooler turned off by a load shedding command may be reactivated if amonitored temperature exceeds a predetermined level. Thus, load shedprocessing is distributed on the network because the node initiating theload shedding is not required for restoring the shed load to operation,unless the node initiating the shedding also controls the particularload being shed. Since the loads again become operational, otherfeatures can also direct or monitor the same loads, even if the nodeinitiating the load shedding goes off line at anytime.

In a related aspect of the invention, demand limiting featuresprogrammed into nodes seek to maintain energy consumption levels belowpredetermined targets during known time intervals of peak demand. Thisreduces system operating costs by reducing energy consumption duringsuch demand periods when a utility charges premium rates. During, forexample, a 15 minute interval, demand limiting might evaluate energyconsumption over the last 14 minutes and assume that for the next 1minute in the future, consumption will remain constant. The feature thendetermines the total energy consumption for the 15 minute interval andthen, using load tables 77-7, identifies loads which can be shed tomaintain the energy consumption level below a predefined, stored targetfor the interval.

Demand limiting, according to the invention, can employ the samesoftware object approach as described previously for load rolling. Thisdistributes demand limiting processing and allows restoration of theload by a local restore process stored in the node controlling the load.In the case of demand limiting, the load may be restored when anattribute of the software object indicates an operator initiated commandto restore the load. It should also be noted that the objects canaccommodate immediate restoration or shedding loads if required inemergency situations, such as fire.

FIG. 82 shows a network configuration with a plurality of nodes 82-1,82-3, and 82-5 communicating with each other over a high speed bus 82-6.As previously discussed, each of the nodes may operate slave devices82-9, 82-11, 82-13 over a local bus 82-7. In order to reduce errorsintroduced by noise on the local bus 82-7, optical coupling can be used.Such optical coupling provides the nodes with significant levels ofisolation from signal noise introduced by the slave devices notoptically coupled to the bus leads. External noise sources also produceRFI, EMI and other error inducing effects.

One such optical isolation approach is shown in FIGS. 83A and 83B. Thegeneral configuration shown in FIGS. 83A and 83B are consistent with theRS/485 Electronic Industries Association specification. Additional noiseisolation is achieved by several techniques shown in FIGS. 83A and 83B.

One such technique is the use of pull up and pull down resistors toapply DC bias when devices are in a high impedance state. This DC biasis provided by resistor R381 which is connected to a positive 5 voltsource, and R382 connected to the communications ground, as shown inFIGS. 83A and 83B. Thus, outputs J1A1 and J1A3 are biased to a DC levelwhere the line drives and receives in device U49 are in the highimpedance state. As a result, low level noise appearing on the signallines does not generate a detectable input.

Differential mode noise is noise showing up on the pair oftransmit/receive wires as opposite polarity from one wire to the other.The bias voltage placed on the lines is a means of "swamping out"differential mode noise. It can do this because, without the bias, andwith high impedance at all nodes, the lines are practically "floating."That is to say, noise is easily induced onto the line, both in commonmode or differential mode. The bias placed on the line can easily "swampout" the differential mode noise on these lines.

Common mode noise is noise induced on both the lines of the local bus(the reference line is not included in this discussion, since datasignals are never sent on that wire) in equal magnitudes with respect toearth ground. Since these noises are "looking" for a path to earthground the lines from earth ground are isolated with the opto couplers.The circuits handle up to 2500 volts before an optocoupler would "breakdown" and let noise pass through. The opto isolators are protected withthe tanszorbs and MOV circuitry. Therefore, common mode noises greaterthan [56 V (MOV)+6.5 V (TRANSZORB)] 62.5 volts would be shunted directlyto earth ground via the MOV and transzorbs.

The optical isolation portion of the node has several optical isolators.Optical isolator U50 has two parts. A first part of the optical isolatoris responsive to transmit signal TXDN. This signal drives one portion ofthe pair of optical isolators in U50. The output of this first portiondrives a line transmitter in U49, which as FIG. 83 shows contains a linetransmitter and a line receiver. In addition, retriggerable one shot U51responds to the transmit signal TXDN to source a current to an LED orother indicator which indicates that the node is transmitting data. Inthe transmit mode, a line transmitter portion of U49 provides signals tothe plus and minus lines of the bus which drives the slave devices.

The same plus and minus signal lines connected to the bus providereceive signals which can be received by the line receiver portion ofU49, as shown in FIG. 83. The output of the line receiver drives opticalisolator U53. U53 then provides receive signals RXDN to the node. Thereceived signals also drive another portion of retriggerable one shotU51. This provides an uninterrupted sourcing current to a light emittingdiode or other indicator to show that the node is receiving data. Itshould be noted that the retriggerable one shots provide uninterruptedcurrent to the transmit and receive indicators, so that the indicatorsremain constantly illuminated while data transitions are occurring inthe transmission or reception of data. This is different fromconventional approaches in which the LED or other indicator is flashedas signals are transmitted and received. This flashing introduces noisecurrents which do not occur in the present invention.

It should be noted that the figure shows +5C and 5D power supplies. The+5C power supply is a communications power supply while the +5D powersupply is a digital power supply. Separate power supplies are used tofurther reduce the effects of noise. A signal indicating a failure ofone of the power supplies is produced by optical isolator U52. Thisoptical isolator has a light emitting portion connected to thecommunications power supply and a light receiving portion connected tothe digital power supply. If the +5C source goes bad, the POWER LED goesout because of a signal change at the "light receiving" part of theoptocoupler. That signal is gated through logic to turn off the powerLED. If the +5D goes bad, the power LED goes out because it is driven bythe +5D power supply. The optocoupler isolates both supplies from eachother. Thus, a failure of either power supply will produce an indicationof a failure in the node. This is distinguished from conventionalapproaches in which a failure of the communications power supply wouldnot be recognized in the receive mode and would only be recognized inthe transmit mode from the absence of transmissions. In addition, byusing the +5D supply on the light receiving portion of optical isolatorU52, additional noise immunity is achieved. This is because thecommunication supply is further isolated from the failure indicatingsignal. The +5D supply may have high frequency noises present due to theuse of crystals and fast logic switching of high-speed CMOS gates; the+5C supply may have noises on it which were brought in from the outsideworld on the local bus. These noises may be up to 2500 volts, peak, withno effect to the operation of the system.

Finally, the present invention is distinguished from conventionalsystems by its use of a single pair of signal lines for bothtransmission and reception of data on the bus driving the slave devices.

Finally, it should be noted that indicia defining the operatinginstructions for causing the system to function as described herein maybe stored in EPROM or other suitable storage medium for use by theprocessors. The operating instructions may also be contained on otherstorage media such as a magnetic storage media having indicia definingthe operating instructions for conveying the operating instructions intovolatile memory should a volatile memory be desired for sequencing sucha processor. The magnetic storage medium may therefore be retained forfuture use should the volatile memory suffer a power outage. Suchstorage media and processors are well known in the art and thereforehave not been described in greater detail herein.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated, it will be clear that variations in the details of theembodiments specifically illustrated and described may be made withoutdeparting from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of accessing network controllers in afacilities management system with a portable computing unit, the networkcontrollers in the facilities management system being arranged tocontrol a process, the network controllers being configured as at leastone network and being interconnected by at least one communication link,each of the network controllers including an equipment interface forreceiving data related to the process, and a processor including a dropport, the processor being coupled to the equipment interface, thefacilities management system being initialized so that the networkcontrollers are configured to each have a network address indicative ofa particular location in the facilities management system, the networkaddress including a subset indicative of an associated communicationlink to which the network controller is connected, a local addressindicative of the network controller, and a node drop ID indicating thatthe network controller is a configured network controller, the portablecomputing unit being a non-configured device not part of the network,the method comprising:connecting the portable computing unit to a firstport of a first network controller of the network controllers, the firstconfigured network controller configured on the system at a firstlocation defined by the subset indicative of the communication link anda first local address indicative of the first network controller;assigning a first network address to the portable computing unit, thefirst network address including the subset, the first local address anda first drop identifier indicative of the first drop port of the firstnetwork controller; transmitting a request for data received at anequipment interface of a second network controller located at a secondnetwork address from the portable computing unit to the second networkcontroller, the request including the second network address as adestination indicator and the first network address as a sourceindicator; transmitting the data from the second network controller tothe portable computing unit in response to the request for data, thedata including the second network address as the source indicator andthe first network address as the destination indicator; receiving thedata from the second network controller at the processor of the firstnetwork controller according to the subset and local address of thefirst network address; transmitting the data to the portable computingunit through the first drop port specified by the first drop identifierportion of the first network address.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereineach network controller further includes a network layer, and a datalink layer, the facilities management system including intermediatenetwork controllers located between the first network controller and thesecond network controller, the method further comprising:transmittingthe request for data to the intermediate controllers along a pathbetween the first network controller and the second network controller,the intermediate network controllers receiving the request at the datalink layer and decoding the destination address in the network layer,the intermediate network controllers retransmitting the request at thedata link layer along the path to a next intermediate controller untilthe second network controller is reached.
 3. The method of claim 2further comprising:retrieving the data from the equipment interface ofthe second network controller in response to the request for data. 4.The method of claim 3 further comprising:transmitting the data to theintermediate controllers along the path between the first networkcontroller and the second network controller, the intermediate networkcontrollers receiving the request at the data link layer, decoding thedestination address in the network layer, the intermediate networkcontrollers retransmitting the request from the data link layer alongthe path to the next intermediate controller until the first networkcontroller is reached.
 5. The method of claim 4 furthercomprising:routing the data between the portable computing unit and thesecond network controller along routes for message traffic between thefirst network controller and the second network controller in accordancewith a routing table stored in the network controllers.
 6. The method ofclaim 5 further comprising:storing at each network controller a routingtable when the facilities management system is initialized, the tablehaving an entry for the destination address, the entry of the tabledefining the next address along the routes for message traffic.
 7. Themethod of claim 6 further comprising:storing portions of predeterminedroutes in sequences of the intermediate network controllers as a seriesof network addresses, each network address defining a next locationalong the path from the first network controller to the second networkcontroller.
 8. The method of claim 4 further comprising:receiving thedata at the data link layer of the first network controller, andproviding the data to the network layer, transmitting the data from thenetwork layer to the first drop port of the processor of the firstnetwork controller.
 9. The method of claim 8 furthercomprising:receiving the data with the portable computing unit at thefirst drop port.
 10. The method of claim 4 further comprising:storing astatic routing table at each network controller, the static routingtable having an entry for each destination address, the entries of thetable defining the next address along the path from the first networkcontroller to the second network controller.
 11. The method of claim 4further comprising:storing the predetermined route portion in a table ina central processor in the facilities management system and accessingthe table to define the route.
 12. The method of claim 4 furthercomprising:adaptively routing the request and data between the portablecomputing unit and the second network controller along the routes formessage traffic between the first network controller and the secondnetwork controller determined by a dynamic routing strategy sensitive tomessage traffic throughout the facilities management system.
 13. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising:predetermining the routes when thefacilities management system is initialized; and storing portions of thepredetermined routes in sequences of the network controllers as a seriesof network addresses, each network address defining a next locationalong a path from the first network controller to the second networkcontroller.
 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:storing astatic routing table at each network controller, the static routingtable having an entry for each destination address, the entries of thetable defining the next address along paths from the first networkcontroller to the second network controller.
 15. The method of claim 13further comprising:storing the predetermined route portion in a table ina central processor and accessing the table to define the route.
 16. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising:routing the data between theportable computing unit and the second network controller along routesfor message traffic between the first network controller and the secondnetwork controller.
 17. The method of claim 16 furthercomprising:storing at each network controller a routing table, the tablehaving an entry for the destination address, the entry of the tabledefining the next address along the routes for message traffic.
 18. Themethod of claim 16 further comprising:adaptively routing messagesbetween the portable computing unit and the second network controlleralong the routes for message traffic between the first networkcontroller and the second network controller determined by a dynamicrouting strategy sensitive to message traffic throughout the facilitiesmanagement system.
 19. The method of claim 1 wherein the portablecomputing unit is a lap top computer.
 20. The method of claim 1 whereinthe process is internal environmental control.